


Loving The Journey Together

by manoutoftimeandquake



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Gen, Implied Sexual Content, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 07, Pregnancy, Weddings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 34,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26364358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manoutoftimeandquake/pseuds/manoutoftimeandquake
Summary: Moments in the lives of Daisy and Sousa (and Kora) after the end of the team's final mission.
Relationships: Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 101
Kudos: 313





	1. A Reunion After Death

_July 4 th, 2019_

Daisy didn’t remember how she got in the healing pod. She remembered dying, remembered opening her eyes and seeing Coulson, May, and Mack stood around her as Kora brought her back from the dead, but after that, she couldn’t remember. She didn’t even know if they were back on Earth yet. She opened the lid of the healing pod and stood from the bed. It was as her feet hit the floor that she realised she wasn’t alone in the room.

The sound of her feet woke Sousa from where he had been dozing in a chair in the corner of the room. The startled look on his face was quickly replaced with a relieved smile when he saw she was awake.

“Hey, you’re up,” he said as he stood from his seat and made his way over to her. He reached her just as she began to sway slightly where she stood, reaching out to steady her by placing a hand on either arm. “Are you okay? Do you need to go back in the pod?”

Daisy let out a groan at the thought. “I’d rather not, I am done with waking up in that thing. I just need to sit down.” She shifted and pulled herself up onto the edge of the bed of the healing pod.

“You’ve only woken up in there a couple of times, you can’t be that sick of it,” Sousa pointed out.

“Is this you trying to get me to get back in there?” Daisy asked.

“I just want to make sure that you’re okay.”

Daisy smiled slightly at his response and leant forward, resting her head against his shoulder. She felt his hand come up to rub gently at the nape of her neck. “I’ve woken up in there more than just the three times,” Daisy said. “I woke up in there in the time loops. You were in that chair every time as well, always waiting for me to wake up. I only remember the last few loops; I lost my memory if I died before the loop reset.”

“Died?” Sousa pulled back from Daisy slightly so he could look her in the eye. “You died in the time loops?” Daisy nodded. “How many times?”

“Fifteen, that I know of,” she answered. She noticed the worried look on Sousa’s face. “I’m fine, really. Once the time loop reset, I was just as I was the last time it started, only without my memories.”

“They told me you died in space, taking down Malick. That you’d still be dead if it weren’t for Kora,” Sousa said. He lightly stroked the side of her cheek, tucking a loose lock of her hair behind her ear. Daisy smiled softly as she leant into his touch. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

“Something else happened in the time loops.”

“What?”

“We kissed. In this room actually.”

Sousa blinked a few times in shock. “Oh.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Oh? That’s all you have to say?”

“So, that wasn’t our first kiss on the Zephyr’s bridge?” Sousa asked.

“It was our first that both of us remember,” Daisy answered. “I guess that counts for something.”

Sousa didn’t respond, just continued to stare at her with a soft look on his face. Daisy couldn’t say which one of them moved first, but they both moved in to close the gap between them, their lips crashing together. Daisy pulled Sousa in closer to her, wrapping her arms around his neck as his hands drifted down to her lower back.

The sound of someone clearing their throat made them break apart. They looked over to see Simmons stood in the doorway, trying to fight back a smile.

“Agent Sousa, thanks for letting me know that Daisy was awake,” Simmons said, clearing trying not to be sarcastic. “Mack said he was looking for you.” Sousa was reluctant to leave, his grip tightening on her waist.

“I’ll be fine,” Daisy promised. “Go.”

“Okay,” Sousa said with a slight nod. He pressed a quick kiss to Daisy’s lips before walking from the room, his gaze lingering on her as he left.

Simmons watched him go before turning back to smile at Daisy.

“What?” Daisy demanded.

Simmons raised an eyebrow. “Seriously, after what I just walked in on? I could tell there was something going on between the two of you, we all did. But I wasn’t expecting to walk in on that.”

Daisy rolled her eyes at her friend. “Where are we?”

“Back at the Lighthouse,” Simmons explained. “You landed a few hours ago. We couldn’t move the healing pod while you were still here, so Sousa offered to wait here with you until you woke up.”

“How’s everyone else?”

“Don’t worry, everyone’s fine,” Simmons reassured.

Daisy frowned slightly. “Simmons, what are you hiding? What happened?”

“Nothing bad,” Simmons promised. “There’s just someone I want you to meet.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“While Fitz and I were gone, we had a daughter,” Simmons answered. “Her name is Alya and she’s not long turned four.” Simmons smiled slightly. “Her name means sky. We named her after you. And she’s really excited to meet her Auntie Daisy.”

“Oh my god,” Daisy replied. “When can I meet her? Is she here?”

“Fitz took her to the common room in the Lighthouse,” Simmons answered. “And you can go once I’ve made sure that you’ve fully recovered.”

“I’m fine,” Daisy protested. “I do not need to go back in that thing. Please.”

“Fine,” Simmons relented. “But someone needs to stay with you at all times for a while, just to make sure that you’re fully healed. And I think I can guess who the first volunteer would be.”

“You’re going to be going on about that for days, aren’t you?”

Simons shook her head. “Not days, weeks. Months even.” She looped one arm around Daisy’s waist and helped the other woman stand, supporting Daisy’s weight against her side. The two women slowly made their way off the Zephyr and through the Lighthouse in the direction of the common room. They’d almost made it all the way there when Sousa walked around the corner. He stopped suddenly, clearly surprised to see the two of them.

“Daisy, hey,” he greeted. “You’re up.” He looked over at Simmons. “Is she okay?”

“She’s doing amazing considering she’s just come back from the dead,” Simmons answered.

“I’m right here,” Daisy interrupted. “Why are talking about me like I’m not in the room?”

“Because in the short time he’s been here, he’s already learned that you don’t listen to doctors, so it’s better to go straight to me for information,” Simmons explained. She shifted Daisy from her side to Sousa’s before they walked the last few metres into the common room.

A small blonde girl sat by Fitz leapt to her feet and raced over to Simmons as soon as the group walked through the door. Daisy smiled at the joyous look on her friend’s face as she bent down to pick the girl up and balance her on her hip.

“You must be Alya,” Daisy said, shooting the little girl a smile as Sousa helped lower her onto the sofa. “It’s great to meet you.”

Alya looked up at her mother hopefully, waiting for permission before she went up to Daisy. “Not today, sweetie. Auntie Daisy got hurt earlier, and she’s still a little sore. We need to be gentle with her.” Simmons glanced over at Sousa at her last sentence, earning a glare from Daisy.

Sousa didn’t notice, just sat down next to Daisy on the sofa. She tucked her feet up onto the sofa and leant against Sousa’s side, smiling when she felt him wrap an arm around her side to hug her close to him.

The rest of the team began to slowly filter in. May came and sat on the same sofa as Fitzsimmons and Alya, Coulson sitting next to Daisy and Sousa. Mack and Yo-Yo joined them not long after, Flint and Piper walking in just behind them, demanding an explanation as to what had just happened. Kora joined the group at some point, quietly taking a chair in the corner, where she could watch the conversation but not join in. Daisy was happy to see that her sister had stuck around, that she was making an effort to become part of the team, and that no one seemed to be questioning her presence.

Daisy had almost drifted off to sleep from where she was sat leaning against Sousa, only the sound of May calling her name waking her up. “What?”

“I said welcome to the I died and came back to life club, although from what Coulson told me, you’ve earned your place several times over,” May repeated.

“Yeah, and from what I’ve heard, that club isn’t as exclusive as it used to be,” Daisy replied. “All but, what, three people in this room qualify for it.”

“And that’s not even half the craziness we’ve had to live through the last few years,” Coulson added.

“Speaking of, did Simmons and Daisy ever tell you guys what happened on Kitson?” Piper asked. Simmons and Daisy both let out a groan, while everyone else in the room seemed confused. “I’ll take that as a no,” she said before launching into the story.

***

Daisy eventually excused herself from the room as Coulson was partway through a story from way back when they were still on the Bus. Fitzsimmons had already left to put Alya to bed and Kora had also slipped out of the room in search on an empty bunk. She stood from the sofa and wobbled slightly as she got to her feet.

“Here, let me help,” Sousa offered as he stood up next to her.

“I’m fine,” Daisy replied.

“It’s okay, I was about to turn in for the night anyway,” Sousa reassured. He put one around her waist and leant her against him as they made their way out of the room, saying goodnight to the remaining members of the team as they left. It didn’t take them long them to reach her bunk. “Are you okay from here, or do you need more help?” He looked down at Daisy and realised how much she was leaning on him. “I’ll help.” He opened the door and helped her onto the bed.

Daisy let out a slight groan as she sunk down onto her bed. She picked up one of the blankets and buried her face in it slightly. “God, I didn’t realise how much I missed my own bed.” She looked up at Sousa. “Thank you for helping me, you didn’t have to.”

“Just because I didn’t have to, doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” Sousa replied. He looked over and saw a chair by her desk. He grabbed the chair, pulled it over to her bedside and sat down. He reached out and held her hand in his own. “How are you feeling?”

“Exhausted and sore, but at least I’m not dead,” Daisy joked.

“Please don’t joke about that,” Sousa said. “I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but I meant what I said to you earlier, I don’t know what I’d do if something were to happen to you.”

Daisy smiled at him before noticing he was settling down in the chair. “You’re not planning on sitting there all night, are you?”

“I was just thinking about what Simmons said to everyone earlier, about you having someone with you at all times to make sure that you’ve recovered properly,” he answered.

“Well, you’re not staying in that chair the whole time,” Daisy replied. She shuffled over slightly so that there was space for a second person in her bed. She patted the empty space next to her. “You joining me?” Sousa seemed hesitant at her offer. “Look, if you don’t want to, I’m not going to force you, but no one is going to think we’re up to anything, I don’t think I could manage it right now. I just don’t want to be alone.”

Sousa moved from the chair to the bed and put one arm around her shoulder as she leant in against him. “I’m not hurting you, am I?”

Daisy shook her head and leant in closer to him. “I’m fine, just tired.” She looked up at Sousa, bringing her hand up to pull him down and kiss him softly.

Sousa went in to deepen the kiss but was cut off by Daisy pulling back to yawn. He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Go to sleep Daisy. I’ll be here when you wake up.” Daisy let out a slight sigh and curled up against his side. She was quick to fall asleep, a peaceful look on her face as she slept, and Sousa was quick to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone who read A Week After Death, would you be interested in a sequel? Because I got bored and planned out one the other night in like an hour and just wanted to know if that's what people want.


	2. A New Home

_July 18 th, 2019_

“What would you say about moving out of the base and finding someplace together?” Daisy asked as she climbed into bed with Sousa that night. “I mean, we’ve been put on indefinite leave until you and Kora are settled into the twenty-first century.”

“And to give you time to rest after dying,” Sousa added.

“And that,” Daisy agreed. “And with the base being as hectic as it is, we can’t do that here. Maybe finding somewhere else would be better.”

“Are you sure about this?” Sousa asked. “I know how much S.H.I.E.L.D. means to you, I don’t want you to feel like you have to leave, even if it is only temporary, just because you feel it would be better for me.”

“It’s for both of us,” Daisy replied. “As much I love S.H.I.E.L.D., if I’m meant to be resting, which Mack Simmons seem to be insistent on, then me being here isn’t going to help; I’m going to get restless whenever I see other agents leaving on missions.” She sighed slightly as she curled up against his side. “And I think I need a break; I’ve haven’t stopped since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. years ago.”

Sousa pressed a kiss to the side of her head. “Then if anyone deserves a break, it’s you.”

“I sense a but.”

“I don’t want to you to feel like I’m pushing you too fast in this relationship,” Sousa continued. “That you have to move in with me because I still need help getting used to this century.”

“Babe, how many times have you used your own bunk?” Daisy asked. Sousa didn’t have an answer. “Do you even know which is your bunk? Or have you just been living with me in mine for the past two weeks? Not that I’m complaining, just curious.”

“Okay, maybe you have a point,” Sousa agreed. He smiled at Daisy before leaning in to kiss her softly. “And I do want to find someplace to live with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I do.”

Daisy smiled and kissed Sousa again. “We’ll start looking in the morning.”

***

_August 3 rd, 2019_

Daisy dumped the last box on the floor. “I think that’s it. We’re officially moved in.”

“Aside from all the boxes we’ve got to unpack and furniture to build,” Sousa pointed out.

Daisy let out a sigh. “God I wish Yo-Yo was here, you should see the speed at which she put up a flatpack set of shelves.” She walked over to where Sousa was stood and looped her arms around his neck as she pulled him in close and kissed him deeply.

“As much as I like where this is going, your sister is meant to be arriving soon, and I don’t think either of us want her to walk in on this,” Sousa reluctantly said as he pulled back from Daisy.

“I know,” Daisy replied. She checked the time on her phone. “She’ll be here in about five minutes. We’d better get started with putting the furniture together, considering we’ve got half of IKEA in our apartment.”

“I vote starting with the bed, I would like somewhere to sleep tonight,” Sousa suggested. A knock came from the front door.

“I’ll get it,” Daisy said. She made her way over the door and opened it to see her sister. “Kora, hi. It’s good to see you.”

“You too, can I come in?”

Daisy stepped back to allow Kora into the apartment. “Thanks for offering to help. How’s the Academy treating you?”

“Good so far, May’s been giving me some extra classes to help catch me up to date with everything that’s happened since ’83,” Kora replied. “She’s been really helpful.”

“Yeah, she helped me a lot when I first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. How are you with flatpack furniture? Daisy asked.

“Never tried it,” Kora replied.

“Then this is going to be an experience for all of us,” Daisy replied.

***

The trio eventually managed to construct the bed in Daisy and Sousa’s room. Daisy let out a sigh as she collapsed onto the mattress. “Finally,” she muttered, although her voice was somewhat muffled as she was lying face down. She rolled and stood back up. “Daniel, if you start putting the bedsheets on, me and Kora will go put the other bed together.”

“What other bed?” Kora asked.

“In your room,” Sousa answered as he unpacked the bedsheets.

“We set aside the larger spare room for you,” Daisy explained. “I know you have a room at the Academy, but I wanted you to know that you’re always welcome here. It’s not big, but it’s somewhere for you to stay whenever you need it. Like, at the weekend and on holidays.”

Kora stared at her sister for a few moments before lunging forward and hugging her tightly. It took Daisy a few moments to respond, having not expected her sister to react like that. She hugged her sister back.

“Come on,” Daisy said as she pulled back. “Let’s go make your bed.”

***

Daisy, Sousa, and Kora were sat in a circle on the floor of the living room.

“So, how about we start with the dinner table and chairs tomorrow?” Kora suggested.

“Agreed,” Daisy replied. “It would be nice to have somewhere to eat that isn’t the floor.”

“When are the sofas arriving?” Sousa asked.

“Monday,” Daisy answered. “We should probably go get groceries tomorrow as well, get some proper food.”

“What’s wrong with takeout pizza and beer?” Kora asked.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “You’ve been at the Academy, what, a week? And you’ve already turned into a stereotypical student.”

“Am I meant to feel insulted?” Kora asked.

“Possibly,” Sousa replied.

Kora stretched her legs out slightly before standing. “I’m off to bed, I’ll see you two in the morning.” She was almost out of the room but turned back and grabbed another slice of pizza. “Night,” she called over her shoulder as she left.

“Stereotypical student?” Sousa asked.

“Stereotypical student,” Daisy confirmed. She sighed slightly and leant against Sousa’s shoulder. “I’m really glad we did this.”

“Did what?”

“Moved here together,” Daisy answered. She looked around the room. “I’ve never had a place like this before. I went straight from the foster system to a van, to S.H.I.E.L.D. where the only place I had for myself was a bunk either on a base or on a plane. I’ve never had a place like this.” She tilted her head so that she was looking up at Sousa. “And I’m really glad I did it with you.”

“I’m glad you did too,” Sousa replied before leaning down to kiss her. Daisy brought her hand up to the side of his face to pull him closer and deepen the kiss. Sousa pulled back from the kiss and rested his forehead against Daisy’s. “Bedroom?”

“God yes,” Daisy answered. “Just quietly past Kora’s room. I don’t need my little sister making jokes about my sex life.”


	3. The L Word

_September 7 th, 2019_

“I’m home,” Daisy called as she walked back into her and Sousa’s apartment after dropping Kora off at the Academy for the new term. She didn’t get a response. “Babe, you okay?” She walked further into the apartment and saw Sousa trying to work the computer.

Sousa turned to face her with a lost look on his face. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Daisy let out a slight laugh as she made her way over. “What are you trying to do?”

“I tried to open my email, but somehow managed to open twenty-seven different tabs,” Sousa explained.

Daisy dragged a chair over to the desk. “Let me have a look,” she said as she took the mouse from Sousa. “Please don’t have opened a virus,” she muttered to herself. She managed to fix the problem in a few moments and handed him back the mouse with his email inbox open on the computer screen after walking him through the proper steps to open his inbox in the future.

“Thanks,” Sousa replied. “I really have no idea what I did wrong.”

“Neither do I,” Daisy admitted. “Anything else you need help with?”

Sousa shook his head. “I think I’m done with the computer for today.”

“Do you want to watch TV instead?” Daisy asked. “You’ve still got a load of stuff to watch on Netflix.”

“You just want to keep watching The Good Place, don’t you?”

Daisy shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not,” she replied as innocently as possible. Sousa raised an eyebrow at her. “Listen, it’s a good show. And you’re still on season one.”

Sousa rolled his eyes but pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he stood from the desk chair. “I’ll make some popcorn.”

***

Daisy was laughing hard at the shocked look on Sousa’s face. “So you had no idea that was going to happen?”

“No!” Sousa exclaimed. “I can’t believe that they were actually in the Bad Place, that’s crazy.”

“Oh my god, you should see the look on your face,” Daisy teased. Her laughter died down slightly when she realised Sousa staring at her. “What?”

“I love you,” he replied.

Daisy froze slightly. “Wait, what?”

Sousa sunk his head into his hands and slumped down against the back of the sofa. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He lifted his head up and looked over at Daisy. “I’m sorry if that was overstepping. I don’t want to push you into moving too fast and saying something like that before you’re comfortable-”

“I love you too,” Daisy said, cutting him off midsentence.

Sousa sat back up slightly. “Really?”

“Really, I love you Daniel Sousa.”

“I love you too Daisy Johnson.”

Daisy smiled at him before moving in closer and kissing him deeply. She brought her hands up to his shoulders to steady herself as Sousa wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled closer to him until she was straddling his lap.

Daisy giggled slightly as she pulled back from Sousa. “I think you just knocked the popcorn on the floor.”

“I don’t care,” Sousa replied before pulling her back in again. Daisy threaded her hands through his hair and ground her hips against him, causing Sousa to groan into the kiss. They broke apart slightly and Sousa dipped his head down to kiss Daisy’s neck.

“Babe, I love you and I love where this is going, but not on the sofa again,” Daisy said.

Sousa let out a slight laugh. “Agreed, I do not want to hit my head on the coffee table again.”

“Yeah, that really ruined the moment,” Daisy agreed. She leant back in to kiss him deeply again. She felt his hands run further down her back and his grip on her tighten. He stood suddenly, holding Daisy close to him as he stood. Daisy let out a slight yelp and wrapped her arms around Sousa’s neck and her legs around his waist to hold herself in place. “Daniel, what are you doing?”

“Sorry, I was under the impression you wanted to move this to the bedroom,” Sousa replied.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I love you,” she said but leant in to kiss him again.

Sousa smiled warmly at her as they pulled apart. “The luckiest person alive. And I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be writing the sequel to A Week After Death, but it will probably be another week or so before I have the first chapter written


	4. Who You Love

_October 18 th, 2019_

Kora had been uncharacteristically quiet on the car ride back from the Academy. Daisy watched her as she walked off to her room and dumped her bag inside.

“Is something wrong?” Daisy asked as Kora walked into the living room.

Kora walked over to the sofa Daisy was sat on and sat at the opposite end of the sofa. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Daisy turned so she was facing her sister. “Sure, what’s up?”

“Okay,” Kora started as she took in a deep breath. “So, since I started at the Academy, I’ve started to realise a few things about myself that I hadn’t realised before. I… I hate this, argh.” She stood from the sofa and began to pace around the room. “I had a whole speech planned out and now I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s okay, take your time,” Daisy reassured.

Kora paused in her pacing and turned on the spot to face Daisy. “Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it.” She took in a deep breath before continuing. “I’m gay.”

Daisy nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Kora replied. “That’s it? You have nothing else to say?”

“What do you want me to say?” Daisy asked. She stood up and made her way across the room to Kora. “Kora, I am so happy and honoured that you felt that we were close enough and that you could trust me enough to tell me this, but it doesn’t change anything between us. You’re still my little sister, yes I’m older than you, and I still love you.”

“You mean that?”

“Of course I do,” Daisy answered. She led Kora back to the sofa and the sisters both sat down. “And I know how much it means to have someone accept you like that.”

“Wait, what?” Kora replied. “You’re… but you and Danny-Boy…”

“I’m bi,” Daisy explained. “And you’ve got to stop calling him that.”

“Oh, I am never going to stop calling him that,” Kora laughed. She grinned as she leant back against the sofa cushions. “This went so much better than I expected.”

“What were you expecting to happen?”

Kora shrugged. “I don’t know, I just never expected this to happen. There was something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Go on.”

“I want to tell Sousa as well, but I don’t know how he’s going to take it,” Kora explained. “You guys are my family now and I want to be honest about this part of myself with you both, but he’s from the fifties, you have no idea how he’s going to take it.”

“I promise you he’ll be fine with it,” Daisy replied.

“You can’t know that.”

“Yes, I can,” Daisy repeated. “I know that he’ll be fine with it because he was fine with it when I told him I’m bi.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, he was totally fine.”

“When did you tell him?” Kora asked.

“Just before we moved,” Daisy answered.

“And he was totally fine with it?” Kora asked.

“Completely fine. I was expecting more of a response from him, but he was actually really pleased to hear that things had changed as much as they had,” Daisy explained. She let out a slight laugh. “He was actually kinda annoyed that people hadn’t changed as much, that there’s still so much hate and homophobia. He said that going by what people were like in the fifties, he didn’t think they would ever change, but now he knows they can, he’s annoyed that they haven’t gone fully accepting.”

Kora smiled. “That’s great to hear.” She looked around the apartment. “Where is Danny-boy anyway?”

“He’s out getting pizza for dinner,” Daisy answered. “And you’ve got to stop calling him that.”

“He’s dating my sister, I get to call tease him all I want, y’know, make sure he’s good for you, as a sister should,” Kora replied.

“I’ve known him for longer than I’ve known you,” Daisy pointed out. “And I’m the older sister, I have to be the overprotective one, not you.”

“I was born thirty years before you,” Kora argued.

“And you’re twenty-five and I’m thirty-one,” Daisy replied. “I’m the older sister.” The front door the apartment opened as Sousa arrived home. “Babe, I’m the older sister, right? And you have to agree with me because you love me.”

“Are you two really having this argument again?” Sousa asked as he walked into the room, pizza boxes in hand.

“Yes, we are,” Daisy replied. “And who are you going to choose, the student that mooches off us every weekend, or your girlfriend who you loves you and love very much?”

“My girlfriend,” Sousa answered. He pressed a quick kiss to Daisy’s lips as he walked around the back of the sofa.

Kora rolled her eyes and moved from the sofa to the armchair. “I’m getting out of the way of that. And Sousa? You’re a traitor, stabbing your fellow person-out-of-time in the back.”

Sousa sat with Daisy and handed Kora her pizza. “Sorry Kora, she made a good point.”

“Whatever,” Kora muttered. She made eye contact with Daisy, who shot her a reassuring smile. “Hey Sousa, can I tell you something? It’s pretty important.”

Sousa frowned slightly. “Go on.”

“I’m gay,” Kora replied.

Sousa nodded. “Okay. Thank you for telling me this. I just want you to know that this doesn’t change anything between us, I’m still your friend and I still care about you in that way. If anyone else gives you grief for this, just let me and Daisy know and we’ll deal with them if you don’t want to, same if some girl hurts you. And if you do meet someone, feel free to invite her over and introduce her to us.” He looked over at Daisy. “Right honey?”

“Of course,” Daisy replied, suppressing a slight giggle.

“What is it?” Sousa asked.

“Babe, I love you, but you have the same energy as an accepting parent that wants to show that they’re accepting, but doesn’t know how,” Daisy explained. She leant forward from where she was sat at the other end of the sofa, kissed him quickly and took her pizza from him. “But like I said, I love you. And thanks for being so supportive of both of us.”

“It’s nothing,” Sousa replied. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Daisy leant in and kissed him again.

Kora gagged from where she was sat a few feet away. “You two are gross, get a room.”

“Kora, this our home. If you have a problem with us kissing, go somewhere else,” Daisy said, shooting a glare at her sister.

Kora closed the lid on her box. “See you later then.” She stood from the armchair and walked out of the room.

“Do you think she’s always going to act like an embarrassed teenager whenever we kiss?” Sousa asked.

“Probably.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen, Kora and Malick gave me such lesbian dealing with comp het energy, I don't know what else to tell you


	5. The Q On The Utility Belt

_January 9 th, 2020_

“Look what Mack just dropped off,” Daisy said as she walked into her and Sousa’s bedroom. It was the day before they left on the Zephyr-3’s maiden voyage into deep space and she and Sousa were getting ready to leave. Kora was packing up her stuff in her dorm at the Academy, meaning the couple were home alone for their last night on Earth.

Sousa looked up from where he was placing clothes in his suitcase. “What is it?”

“My new suit. Fitz has been working on it for the last few weeks, Simmons helped before she volunteered to go on that mission to Wuhan,” Daisy answered as she lifted the lid on the box.

“For people that retired have retired from S.H.I.E.L.D., they still do a lot of work for S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Sousa pointed out.

“Yeah, well, they’ve got big brains that tend to get bored when not used for a while,” Daisy replied.

“What was Simmons’ mission again?”

“Helping contain a pathogen with pandemic potential. Even though we don’t have any of the serum from the T.A.H.I.T.I. project, thank god, she said the research she has from studying mine and Coulson’s blood could be helpful in providing a cure,” Daisy explained. She lifted the suit from the box and unfolded. “Bastards.”

“What?”

She turned the suit around to show it to Sousa. “Why is there a Q on the utility belt? What did you say to Mack to get him to do this?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sousa defended. Daisy frowned slightly. “Honey, I’m telling the truth, I had nothing to do with this.”

“Maybe not directly, but you certainly gave Mack the idea,” Daisy replied. “All that talk on quinjet in space, right before we boarded the Zephyr.”

“I remember, but I didn’t ask Mack to do that. But if you are going to insist on calling yourself Quake.”

“The press call me that,” Daisy muttered with a roll of her eyes as she took her phone out of her pocket and took a photo of the suit.

**Coulson’s Kids (And May)**

**Daisy:** _attached picture_

**Daisy:** Who did this?

 **Mack:** I believe your boyfriend was the one who came up with the idea

 **Fitz:** But you were the one who told me to put it on the suit

 **Mack:** Turbo!!

 **Fitz:** What?

 **Mack:** I told you not to tell them that it was my idea

 **Daisy:** So I can stop blaming my boyfriend?

 **Mack:** It was still his idea in the first place

 **Sousa:** Yes you can

 **Kora:** You people are weird

 **Coulson:** I hate to break it to you, Kora, but you are “you people”

 **Kora:** What?

 **Coulson:** You’re on the Christmas card

 **May:** I don’t know why I put up with you all

 **Daisy:** Because you’re the mom of the group

 **May:** I am not

**_Yo-Yo changed the group name to Coulson and May’s Kids_ **

**May:** You change that back!

 **Coulson:** She does have a point, Mel

 **Simmons:** Alya would like to know if this means that she’s Coulson and May’s granddaughter

 **May:** …

 **May:** Yo-Yo, don’t you ever change that name

 **May:** That’s an order

 **Yo-Yo:** Got it

Daisy smiled and put her phone away. “Looks like it wasn’t entirely your fault.”

“It wasn’t my fault at all, Mack told him to do it,” Sousa argued.

“And you’re the one who gave him the idea in the first place,” Daisy pointed out. She picked up the suit and walked in the direction of the bathroom. “I’m going to go try this on.”

***

“What do you think?” Daisy asked as she walked back into the bedroom. The suit was similar to her last one, with the addition of the Q on the utility belt and a few features that would connect the suit to the spacesuits on Zephyr-3. She did a little twirl as she entered the room.

“You look beautiful,” Sousa replied.

Daisy’s cheeks flushed bright red at his response. “I meant the suit, not me.”

Sousa looked her up and down. “It looks good on you. Especially the Q on the utility belt.”

“Remember what I said on the quinjet, about making fun of the person who can literally turn you to dust,” Daisy reminded as she took a few steps towards him and lightly poked him in the chest.

Sousa took a step towards Daisy, closing the distance between them until there was almost no space left between them “I get it, that’s why they call you-”

“Don’t you dare,” Daisy warned.

“That’s why they call you-”

Daisy cut Sousa off by closing what was left between them and crashing her lips against his. She was stood on the tips of her toes to even out the height difference between the two and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck to hold him closer to her. Sousa was quick to return the kiss, pressing in closer to her to deepen the kiss. He backed them towards the bed until the backs of Daisy’s legs hit the edge of the bed and the couple fell down onto the bed. Sousa landed on top of Daisy, his body pinning her down onto the bed. They pulled apart ever so slightly, their lips still lightly brushing against each other as Daisy took in several deep breaths.

“That’s why they call you Quake,” Sousa said, finally able to finish his sentence.

“Shut up,” Daisy replied before pulling him back in for another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *writes in a reason for coronavirus to not exist in the MCU because I can't be bothered dealing with that*


	6. The Grandparents

_March 27 th, 2020_

It was a rare quiet evening aboard Zephyr-3 and Daisy was sat with Kora in the cockpit, looking out at the stars. The comfortable silence the pair of sisters had been sat in for the last half an hour was interrupted by the ringing of Daisy’s phone.

Daisy looked down and saw that it was May. “I’ve got to take this.”

“I’ll leave you to it,” Kora said as she stood from her seat and walked out of the cockpit.

“Hey May, what’s up?” Daisy asked as she answered.

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon? And before you answer, I accessed Zephyr-3’s schedule and I know you aren’t busy,” May said.

“Should I be worried?” Daisy asked. “I think I should be worried.”

“My parents want to meet Sousa,” May explained. “I tried telling them that you were in deep space, so they insisted on a video call instead.”

“Wait, they want to meet him, why?”

“It’s… a weird story,” May replied.

“May, what happened?” Daisy pressed.

“I was talking to them earlier today and they asked how you were and I mentioned about him and you being together and then they said they needed to meet him to see what he’s like,” May explained with a sigh. “My Mom’s exact words were ‘if you’re going to declare yourself her de facto mother, then I’m her de facto grandmother and I want to make sure that her boyfriend is good for her’.”

“Awww, I have grandparents,” Daisy replied as she held her laughter back.

“Is that really all you took from that?” May asked. She paused for a moment. “Are you laughing?”

“No,” Daisy tried to reply but started laughing anyway.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” May scolded. “My mother will try and scare him off if she doesn’t like him. She did with almost every boyfriend I brought home.”

“What, you think that she won’t like Sousa?”

“I hope she will,” May replied. “But Andrew was the only partner of mine she ever liked.”

“What about Coulson?” Daisy asked.

“Daisy…”

“Come on May, I saw you two at Christmas, don’t try and lie to me.”

“It’s… complicated,” May answered. “And I think my Mom is beginning to come round on him.”

Daisy smiled. “If they like him, they’ll like Daniel.”

“I’m sure they will, I just don’t want them to make him feel uncomfortable,” May replied. “Is three a good time?”

“You tell me,” Daisy said. “You’re the one that seems to know our schedule.” She let out a slight sigh. “I better go warn Daniel. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Talk to you then, and Daisy?”

“Yeah?”

“Even if for some ridiculous reason my parents don’t approve of Sousa, me and Coulson do, and even then, you don’t need our permission to date anyone,” May replied.

“I know May but thank you anyway.”

The call ended and Daisy let out a slight sigh.

“Is something wrong?” asked a voice from behind Daisy. She turned around and saw Sousa walking towards her. “Is everything alright with the team?”

“They’re fine,” Daisy replied as Sousa came to sit in the co-pilot’s seat next to her. “We do have a problem though.”

“What’s wrong?” Sousa asked, a concerned look on his face.

“Everything’s fine, but May’s parents want to meet you,” Daisy answered.

Sousa nodded. “Okay. Quick question, why?”

“They, particularly May’s mom, have decided that if May is going to act like my mom, then they are my grandparents and need to sign off on their granddaughter’s boyfriend,” Daisy explained. “I apologise now if they try to scare you off.” She turned slightly in her seat so she could face him and took his hands in her own. “I just need you to remember that we’re in deep space and they can’t hurt you.”

Sousa smiled and leant forward to kiss her. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“You’re not scared?”

“Of the people that raised May? I’m terrified,” Sousa answered. “But like I said, I’m sure it’ll be fine. The rest of the team, including May, already seem to like, I’m sure they will as well. I hope, at least.”

“Nah, you should be terrified,” Kora interrupted.

Daisy and Sousa both looked behind them and saw Kora was sat on the floor a few feet away, hiding in the shadows.

“Kora, how long have you been sat there?” Daisy asked.

“I never left,” she replied. “And as much as I think May is awesome, she can be scary, her parents must be as bad.”

“You’re not helping,” Daisy said.

“I am aware of that.”

***

_March 28 th, 2020_

Daisy and Sousa were sat at the desk in their bunk the next afternoon as they waited for the video call to begin.

“If at any point they do or say anything that you think is pushing it too far, just let me know and I’ll pretend that we’re losing signal because we’re going through a nebula,” Daisy offered.

Sousa took her hand in his and squeezed it reassuringly. “It’s going to be fine.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The screen lit up as the call started. Daisy clicked on the screen and smiled when she saw May.

“Hi, May.”

“Daisy, Sousa,” May greeted. “It’s great to see you both. My parents should both be joining in a moment.”

William May joined a few moments later, Lian joining shortly after.

“Hi, William, hi Lian,” Daisy greeted with a wave. “It’s good to see you again.”

“And you,” William replied. “Mellie said you’re in deep space at the moment.”

“Mellie?” Sousa asked.

“Dad, don’t,” May sighed when she heard the old nickname.

“We are,” Daisy answered, steering the conversation back to the deep space mission. “We’ve been out here for a couple of months now. It’s been pretty good so far.”

“And is the new boyfriend?” William asked.

Daisy nodded. “It is.” She turned slightly to look over at Sousa. “William, Lian, I’d like for you to meet Daniel Sousa.”

“Daniel Sousa, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that died in 1955?” Lian asked.

“Yeah, funny story?” Daisy said with a slight laugh. “We may have faked his death and kidnapped him from an alternate timeline while we were time travelling last year.”

“He was actually the first person to figure out that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D.,” May added. “That’s who tried to kill him.”

Lian looked impressed. “He figured out Hydra were in S.H.I.E.L.D. almost sixty years before anyone else? I’m impressed.”

Daisy felt Sousa react slightly against him as he realised that May’s parents were likely going to approve of him.

“How did you figure it out?” Lian asked.

Sousa smiled as he began to explain how he realised that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. back in the fifties. Daisy felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She discretely slipped her phone out of her pocket and saw that May had sent her a text.

 **May:** Had a feeling my Mom would be impressed by that

Daisy smiled before sending a text back.

 **Daisy:** Thank you for that, he was really nervous about this and he already seems more relaxed

Daisy slid her phone back into her pocket and turned her attention back to the screen. She and May locked eyes over the video call, both smiling at each other before going back to listening to Lian and Sousa talking.

***

“It was lovely to talk with you,” Daisy said as the call came to an end. “We’ll have to meet up when we get back on Earth.”

“Definitely,” Lian replied. She turned her attention to Sousa. “It was lovely to meet you.”

“It was,” William agreed. “And it’s nice to see that Daisy has found someone like you.”

Lian nodded in agreement. “He reminds me of Andrew in some ways.”

May let out a groan. “Mom, please don’t. I’m going to end the call now.”

“Goodbye,” Sousa and Daisy said as the call ended. Daisy let out a sigh once the call ended and leant against Sousa’s shoulder.

“I think that went well,” Sousa said.

“For you, maybe. Coulson should be worried though if Lian’s still bringing up Andrew,” Daisy replied. She tipped her head up slightly to kiss him. “Sorry if they scared you at all.”

Sousa shook his head. “They were fine. It’s actually really good to know that I’ve got your whole family’s approval.”

“And not that I need their approval to date someone, but I am very happy that they all like you,” Daisy replied before kissing him again. She checked the time on her phone. “Although Kora isn’t going to like you if we don’t meet her for dinner in the next ten minutes.” She stood and held her hand out to Sousa. “Come on, we better go.”

Sousa took her hand and the couple walked out of their bunk and off towards the kitchen to find Kora.


	7. The First Pride In Space

_June 1 st, 2020_

“Wake up bitch, it’s pride month,” Kora announced as she threw the door open to Daisy and Sousa’s bunk. The couple both jolted awake at the sudden intrusion. “Come on, it’s pride month. Get up.”

Daisy blinked sleepily as she looked over at the clock on her bedside table. “Kora, it’s seven thirty-two in the morning and it’s mine and Sousa’s morning off, why are you here?”

“Pride month?” Kora replied as she awkwardly held up a pride flag.

“We’re having a lie-in,” Daisy said. “Give me two hours, then come talk to me about pride month.”

“Three hours,” Sousa muttered from his side of the bed, his face still pressed into the pillow and one arm wrapped around Daisy’s waist.

“Yeah, come talk to me about pride month in three hours,” Daisy agreed. She glared at her sister when she didn’t move. “Go, or I’ll quake you.”

“You’ll make me?”

“No, quake,” Daisy repeated.

Kora, finally understanding her sister’s threat, quickly left the room and closed the door behind her. Daisy groaned and rolled over to face Sousa, his arm around her waist still holding her close.

“Sorry about her,” she muttered.

“It’s fine,” Sousa replied. “I’m used to her by now.”

“Sorry that you’re used to her.”

Sousa let out a slight laugh and hugged Daisy closer to him, smiling as she burrowed her head in against his neck. “Go back to sleep,” he said as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Daisy didn’t respond, just let out a slight snore. “Looks like you already have.”

***

“Nice to see you’re awake,” Kora said as Daisy walked into the kitchen. She was sat on the counter eating a bowl cereal, despite it being almost eleven. She was wearing a t-shirt with the lesbian pride flag on the front with the words “the gay sister” written on, her long dark hair pulled back into two space buns with rainbow ribbons tied around them.

“Get off the counter,” Daisy instructed as she walked over to the cupboards.

“Yes mom,” Kora sarcastically replied.

Daisy rolled her eyes as she turned back around to face Kora. “You are definitely the younger sibling. You are the human definition of an overly sarcastic younger sibling.”

“The _inhuman_ definition,” Kora corrected, earning another eye roll from Daisy. She grabbed a bundle of fabric that was next to where she had been sat on the counter. “I got you this.” She threw the fabric at Daisy without warning, causing it to hit Daisy in the face.

“What the hell?” Daisy exclaimed as she picked it up from off the floor. She unfurled it and saw it was a t-shirt similar to Kora’s. It had the bi pride flag on the front with the words “I’m not straight either” written on. “Where did you get this?”

“From the internet, before we left Earth,” Kora explained. “Don’t worry, I didn’t use Amazon.” She pointed at the ribbons in her hair. “I brought more of these too if you want some, and some pride flags and glitter.”

“Kora, what’s all this for?” Daisy asked.

“Pride in space,” Kora answered. She walked across the room to Daisy, bringing her bowl of cereal with her. “Seriously, we could have the first pride ever in space. Unless you already had one when you were looking for Fitz.”

Daisy shook her head. “We never thought about that, we were so focused on finding Fitz.”

“Cool, I brought some extra t-shirts in case anybody else wanted them and loads of pride flags, and I mean loads,” Kora continued.

“We’re landing later today,” Daisy said. “Depending on where we are, what or who we have to deal we have to deal with, we can definitely have the first pride in space.”

Kora squealed and hugged her sister. “Thank you! You won’t regret this.” Kora then raced off in the direction of her bunk, most likely in search of the rest of her stash of pride stuff.

“Why would you say that? I wasn’t going to regret it, but then you said that!”

***

Daisy was on the bridge of the Zephyr that afternoon, having changed into the t-shirt Kora had gotten for her. Sousa was sat beside her helping her go through the preliminary data from the planet’s surface.

“Uninhabited, but atmosphere suitable for human life,” he read off from the monitors. He looked over at Daisy. “Shall we tell Kora?”

Daisy nodded before looking over at where her sister was sat. “Kora, you still on for the first pride in space?”

Kora bolted upright from where she had been lounging in the pilot’s seat. “For real?”

“Yes.”

Kora made her way through the bridge. “I’ll go tell the others. I already put a load of pride things in your bunk,” she said before she walked out of the bridge.

“You go get ready, I’ll finish the preliminary reports,” Sousa offered.

“Thanks,” Daisy said. She kissed him quickly before heading off in the direction of their bunk. “I love you,” she called over her shoulder as she went.

“I love you too.”

***

Daisy joined Kora at the loading bay at the back of the Zephyr. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail with a rainbow hair ribbon just like Kora’s tied in a large bow around her ponytail. She’d replaced her usual makeup look with a glittery and rainbow one and was wearing a bi pride flag as a cape. She’d switched her plain black leggings to ones with pink, purple and blue stripes up the side.

“What do you think?” she asked as she gave her sister a little twirl. She noticed Kora was holding a large pride flag on a flagpole. “What’s that for?”

“First of all, you look great,” Kora replied. “And secondly, you know how people planted flags in the moon? Yeah, well, we’re doing the same thing here. We’re claiming this planet for the gays.”

Daisy shook her head. “Sure, why not.” She lowered the ramp and she and Kora made their way down to the planet’s surface.

***

The photo Sousa took of Daisy, Kora, and a few of the other agents from Zephyr-3 stood around the pride flag had been printed off and displayed in the common room, a small sign proudly declaring it the first pride in space placed underneath.


	8. Anatomy Analysis

_July 4 th, 2020_

Simmons emailed her the results of the ‘anatomy analysis’ later that evening. Daisy was alone in her and Sousa’s bunk when she opened the email. She skimmed through the email until she got the results.

Negative.

Daisy let out a sigh of relief and slumped down in her seat as she closed the laptop.

“Honey, are you okay?”

Daisy looked over and saw that her boyfriend was stood in the doorway, looking slightly concerned.

“I’m fine,” Daisy replied. She bit the inside of her lip as she thought for a moment. “Actually, can we talk?”

“Of course,” Sousa replied. He closed the door behind him and made his way over to sit on the bed as Daisy turned her chair around to face him. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Daisy reassured. She took in a deep breath before continuing. “Where do you stand on having kids? Like, is that something you can see being in our future?”

Sousa was obviously taken aback for a moment. “I mean, yes, that’s definitely something I want for our future if that’s what you want as well, but where’s this coming from? Wait are you-”

“I’m not pregnant,” Daisy answered before he could finish his sentence. “I thought I might be, but I’m not.” She let out a slight laugh. “There were no pregnancy tests on board, so I had to draw a sample of my own blood and send a chemical analysis of it to Jemma. She just emailed me back with the results.”

“And they were negative?”

Daisy nodded. “Before today, I hadn’t given much thought about what would happen if something like this happened and that test had come back positive. I realised we needed to talk about this, to make sure we were on the same page about what we wanted if anything like this happened again.”

“And are we? Do you want to have children?” Sousa asked.

Daisy was quiet for a moment as she thought about her answer. “We are. I want to have kids with you. But not right now. I mean, we’re in deep space at moment, and I know Fitzsimmons did it, but I would much rather have kids on Earth. And we’ve only been together for a year, and I love where we are as a couple right now.” She reached out to hold his hands in her own. “I want that life with you, but I’m just not ready for that yet.”

“Okay.”

“Really?” Daisy asked.

“Really,” Sousa replied. “I want to have children with you, but you’re right. We aren’t in the right place in our lives or our relationship right now to have children. Maybe in a couple of years, we might be, but not now.”

Daisy nodded. “So, in a couple of years, we’ll talk about starting to try for a baby.”

“And if you think you might be pregnant before then, please don’t feel like you can’t talk to me about it,” Sousa said. “I love you and I want to be there for you if something like this happens again.”

“I love you too.” Daisy leant in to kiss Sousa. She was smiling when they pulled apart.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Just thinking about our future,” Daisy replied. “Us being married and having kids.”

“We didn’t mention marriage at all in our conversation,” Sousa pointed out, an excited smile on his face. “You want to get married?”

“That wasn’t a proposal,” Daisy replied. “It was just me letting you know that if you were to propose, I would say yes.”

Sousa brought her hands up from where he was still holding them to softly press a kiss to them. “Then I guess I have to come up with a good plan for proposing.”

Daisy grinned at him, a giddy feeling beginning to take her over as she thought about the possibility of him proposing. Looking at him, she could see he was feeling the same way. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me, writing an "Anatomy Analysis" part to the fic and not immediately making Daisy pregnant? It's more likely than you think


	9. Diamond Ring

_September 20 th, 2020_

Daisy collapsed into her bed and let out a loud groan as she buried her face into her pillow. “Nobody talk to me for the next twelve hours, minimum.” After spending the last eight months in space, Daisy couldn’t wait to spend a night in a bed that wasn’t on a spaceship, constantly living in close quarters with two dozen other agents.

“Honey, I know what you just said, but are you going to get changed before bed? At least take off your boots?” Sousa asked.

Daisy crawled back off the bed and over to where she had dumped her suitcases by the closet door. She dug through them until she pulled out her pyjamas. She quickly changed before crawling back into bed. Sousa joined her a few moments later and Daisy immediately curled up close to him.

“Not that I haven’t enjoyed our last few months in space, but I’m happy to be back in our home,” Daisy said. She let out a sigh and rested her head against Sousa’s chest. “And I meant what I said about not doing anything for the next twelve hours.”

“I muted both of our phones and told everyone that we both want some rest,” Sousa replied.

“God I love you.”

Sousa let out a slight laugh. “I love you too.”

Daisy smiled and that was the last thing either of them said before falling asleep.

***

_September 21 st, 2020_

When Daisy woke up, she quickly realised that she was alone in bed. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she got out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. Sousa was there, already making breakfast for the two of them. Daisy walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She went on the tips of her toes to rest her head on his shoulder.

“How long have you been up?” she asked.

“About an hour,” he replied.

“You should’ve woken me up.”

“You still had another half an hour on your demand of not wanting anyone to disturb you for the next twelve hours,” Sousa explained. “Plus, you look really peaceful when you’re sleeping, I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Have you heard anything from the team?” Daisy asked as she made her way over to the table and sat down.

“They were wondering about meeting up at Fitzsimmons’ place tomorrow,” Sousa replied. “I already agreed, I presumed that you’d be okay with that.”

“That’s fine,” Daisy agreed. “So, we’ve got the evening in to ourselves?”

“Actually, I’ve made a dinner reservation for this evening,” Sousa replied.

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “You did?”

“Yeah, I thought it would be nice to go out, celebrate being back on Earth,” Sousa said. He smiled at her as he brought the plates of food over. “I mean, I haven’t been able to take you out on a proper date in eight months. And that is a serious misstep on my part, not taking someone as amazing you on a proper date for that long.”

Daisy blushed at his response and looked down at her plate. “So, what time is the reservation for?”

“Half-six,” Sousa replied. “It’s at the restaurant where we had our first date.”

“I look forward to it.”

***

“This has been great, thanks for doing this,” Daisy said as the waiter took away their dinner plates. They were at the restaurant, sat in a quiet corner away from other tables as neither of them wanted the attention that came with being a superhero out on a date. “Are we planning on staying for dessert?”

“If that’s what you want, then sure.”

“I think I will,” Daisy said as she looked over a menu. She looked back up and saw that Sousa was staring at her with a warm smile on his face. “Is something wrong?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” Daisy replied.

“I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone as much I’ve loved you,” Sousa continued. He smiled at her over the table and took her free hand in his own. “I don’t know what I did for the universe to decide that I was worthy of you, but I’m glad it did because I want to spend every day for the rest of my life proving to you how much I love.”

“Daniel, what’s going on?” Daisy asked as their conversation on Zephyr-3 from a few months ago began to creep into the back of her mind. “What are you saying?”

Sousa kept holding her hand in his own as he moved off the chair to go onto one knee in front of her. He dropped her hand to reach into his pocket and pull out a ring box. “Daisy Louise Johnson, will you marry me?”

Daisy nodded as she tried not to cry. “Yes, god yes.”

Sousa grinned at her as he got back off the floor and slipped the ring onto her finger. Daisy pulled him in close and kissed him.

“I love you so much,” Daisy said as Sousa sat back down opposite her. She reached across the table to hold his hand.

“I love you too,” Sousa replied. “Did I come up with a good plan for proposing? I know it’s a bit clichéd, but-”

“It’s not,” Daisy interrupted. “I mean, we’re in the restaurant where we had our first date, it’s sweet.”

“Same table as well” Sousa pointed out.

Daisy smiled. “I hadn’t realised, you really put a lot of thought into this.”

“Of course I did,” Sousa replied. “It’s you, I had to make it something special.”

“And that’s why you agreed to meeting up at Fitzsimmons’ tomorrow.”

Sousa shrugged. “It was their idea, but I knew you’d want to tell them as soon as possible.”

“I look forward to it.”

***

_September 22 nd, 2020_

Daisy and Sousa arrived outside Fitzsimmons’ house at the same time as Mack and Yo-Yo.

“It’s good to see you both,” Sousa said as they all got out of the car.

“And you too,” Mack replied. “Sorry we couldn’t be there for your mission debriefing, our flight from back from Colombia got held up.”

“Did you have a good holiday?” Sousa asked.

The men’s conversation turned into background noise as Daisy noticed something on Yo-Yo and Mack’s hand. “Are those wedding rings?”

Yo-Yo blushed slightly. “Mack and I may have eloped while we were in Colombia. We were talking about how nice it was to be back in my home country and how different my life is now compared to what I thought it would be like when I was growing up. And one thing led to another and now we’re married.”

“Oh my god, I’m so happy for you both,” Daisy said, her hand having moved up to cover her mouth in shock.

“Wait, is that an engagement ring?” Mack asked. He looked over at Sousa. “When did you propose?”

“Last night,” Sousa replied.

“Congratulations you two,” Yo-Yo said as she made her way over to Daisy to hug her.

“Am I missing something?”

Daisy and Yo-Yo looked over to see Simmons walking out of the front door.

“Mack and Yo-Yo eloped while they were on holiday,” Daisy answered.

“And Daisy and Sousa got engaged,” Yo-Yo added.

Simmons let out a squeal and hugged both of her friends. “I’m so happy for you two.” She looked at Mack and Sousa. “And you two too,” she added. She pulled back from the group hug. “Come on, let’s go inside and tell the others. They’re going to be excited to hear all of this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm planning the wedding/honeymoon chapters already and for the honeymoon chapter I'm torn between sending them somewhere nice and exotic for their honeymoon or to an area near me that's somewhat less of a tropical paradise but still nice so I don't have to research anything lmao


	10. Wedding Plans

_February 6 th, 2021_

“Hey Daisy,” Coulson greeted over the video call.

“Hey A.C.,” Daisy replied. She was sat alone in her and Sousa’s bunk, sat cross-legged in the chair at the desk.

“What are you calling about?” Coulson asked.

Daisy looked slightly taken aback at his comment. “What, I can’t call a friend just to catch up, I have to have a reason?”

“Fine,” Coulson replied. “So, how’s the wedding planning going?”

“Pretty good,” Daisy replied. “We sorted out the venue and I went dress shopping before we left for this mission and we’re getting back three weeks before the wedding, so we should have enough time to sort out anything that goes wrong. The rest we’re having to arrange from space.”

“I’m guessing Simmons has been helping with that,” Coulson said.

Daisy nodded. “She has been really helpful; I knew made a good choice asking her to be my maid of honour.” She shifted slightly in her chair. “The wedding was actually the reason I called you.”

“I knew there was a reason,” Coulson teased. Daisy glared at him. “Fine, I’ll stop. Why did you call me?”

“It’s kinda a big ask, but there was something I wanted to ask you about the wedding,” Daisy explained. She took in a deep breath before continuing. “Since I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. all those years ago, you have constantly been there for me in a way no one had ever been before. You’ve stood by me, helped me, and guided me, been more like a father to me than my actual father. Which is why I wanted to ask you to walk me down the aisle.” Coulson didn’t respond. “Coulson? Are you still there?” She let out a slight groan. “Please tell me didn’t lose contact with Earth while I was making that speech.”

“I’m still here,” Coulson replied, his voice shaking slightly.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine. Just really wish Fitzsimmons hadn’t given me the ability to cry,” he said. He wiped a few tears away from his eyes. “This is embarrassing.”

“So, is that a yes or no?” Daisy asked.

“Yes, I would be honoured to walk you down the aisle,” Coulson replied. “And I don’t even know how to begin to explain how much it means to me that you asked me this. I have loved you as a daughter for years and I know how… complicated your relationship with your birth father is, I didn’t want to overstep and try and force myself into that role. But to be asked… thank you. I can’t wait to walk you down the aisle.”

“Does that have anything to with the fact that I’m marrying one of your S.H.I.E.L.D. heroes?” Daisy asked.

Coulson shrugged. “That does help a little,” he admitted. “Hey, does this mean that May is going to get the mother of the bride job?”

“So you admit that you’re back together?” Daisy teased.

“That’s not what I meant,” Coulson defended. “I mean, we are trying to work through things, and it’s going pretty well, but I meant that she’s always been like a mother figure to you since you joined the team.”

“I know what you meant,” Daisy replied. “And I know she’s going to have the mother of the bride job, we already talked about this yesterday.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I told her that I was going to ask you about being involved in the wedding,” Daisy explained. “She immediately figured out what I was talking about, obviously. We were just trying to decide if you’d need her there for when you inevitably started crying.”

“You both know me so well,” Coulson joked.

A knock sounded at the door and Kora stuck her head around. “Hey, Daisy, you have to come see this.”

“I’ll let you go, sounds like you’ve got some cool space things to see,” Coulson said.

“Thanks,” Daisy replied before closing the laptop down.

“What was that about?” Kora asked.

“I was asking Coulson to walk me down the aisle,” Daisy explained.

“I’m guessing he said yes,” Kora replied. “Of course he did, why wouldn’t he? He’s the team dad and you’re the main target of his parenting.”

Daisy just rolled her eyes as she and Kora made their way through the bridge and into the cockpit. Sousa looked over at them as they walked in and smiled when he saw Daisy.

“Hey, did you speak with Coulson?” he asked. Daisy nodded as she walked up to him and leant against him. He wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed a quick kiss to her lips as they looked out the windows of the cockpit. “So, what did he say?”

“He agreed to it,” Daisy replied. “He said he’d walk me down the aisle.”

“That’s great,” he said. He smiled at her. “Just think, in a few months we’ll be married. Husband and wife.”

Daisy smiled lightly and rested her head against his shoulder. “I can’t wait.”


	11. Kitson Meetups

_April 17 th, 2021_

When Daisy had agreed to the deep space mission, she hadn’t expected it to involved meeting Captain Marvel in an alien casino. After having had Kora begging her for hours to be the other agent to come down onto Kitson with her, Daisy relented.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Kora repeated over and over as she and Daisy made their way down the ramp.

“Please stop,” Daisy begged.

“Fine,” Kora replied. She paused for a moment as they made their way across the planet’s surface. “Thank you.”

“Why were you so insistent about coming anyway?” Daisy asked.

“Because this is the planet you and Simmons got high on,” Kora replied with a laugh.

Daisy let out a groan. “I forgot Piper told you that story.” She sighed as they made their way towards the casino. “Just don’t do anything, please?”

“I’ll be fine,” Kora replied. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

***

Daisy left Kora at the bar as she made her way over to a secluded booth in the corner of the room. Carol was already sat there, two drinks on the table. She smiled when she saw her.

“So, this is the legendary Quake,” Carol said as Daisy sat down opposite her. She slid one of the drinks over to Daisy. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Daisy replied and took the drink. “Not that it isn’t nice to meet, but why did you make contact with us? The Avengers normally keep their distance from S.H.I.E.L.D., don’t think they ever got over what happened in 2014.”

“I wasn’t with them in 2014, what happened then had nothing to do with me,” Carol replied. “Besides, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t normally go into space.”

“This is actually my third deep space mission,” Daisy pointed out.

“I know, I’ve been watching your team from a distance, but thought it was time to reach out,” Carol replied. “What part of S.H.I.E.L.D. are you with? They didn’t have a deep space division when I met them, but that was in the nineties.”

“My team is the Sentient World Observation and Response Department,” Daisy answered.

“So, your team is part of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is called S.W.O.R.D.?”

Daisy let out a laugh. “What can I say, we love acronyms.”

“I’ve also heard the name the Astro Ambassadors a few times,” Carol said.

Daisy sighed and sunk his head into her hands. “That would be Daniel’s doing. I keep telling him that’s not what we’re called, but he insists that it’s a good name.” She let out a slight laugh and fiddled with her engagement ring. “He’s such a dork, but I love him.” She looked up at Carol. “Sorry, this was meant to be a professional meeting, not me gushing about my love life.”

Carol waved it off. “It’s fine, this was more of a casual meeting. And after knowing the Avengers for three years, it’s nice to see another superhero with a stable personal life. Seriously, I mean, Tony has Pepper and Morgan… and that’s it really. In their defence, they were badly affected by Thanos, but still.”

“We were very lucky in that regard,” Daisy said. “We did lose some agents when that happened, but, as cruel as this sounds, I did okay as I didn’t lose any of my friends. I know you were close to Fury, I’m sorry to hear about what happened to him.”

“Yeah, I miss him, he was a good man,” Carol replied. She smirked slightly. “What did he tell people about he lost his eye?”

“His go-to answer was that the last time he trusted someone, I lost an eye,” Daisy said. “But Coulson told me that Fury had told him he’d lost it when being tortured by the Kree in the nineties. I hate the Kree.”

“Agreed, but that’s not what happened,” Carol replied.

Daisy leant forward slightly. “What really happened?”

“He invaded the personal space of a flerken and so she scratched him,” Carol explained.

“And what exactly is a flerken?” Daisy asked.

“A cat, but like, a space cat,” Carol answered. “And a pretty impressive space cat, she ate the Tesseract.”

“I’m sorry, she ate the Tesseract?”

“Yeah, she’s a pretty cool cat,” Carol replied. She noticed something going on by the bar. “That doesn’t look good.”

Daisy followed her gaze and saw that a man was making his towards their table. “Excuse me, but there’s been an issue with the woman you arrived with,” he said as he reached the table. He squinted at Daisy. “Wait, don’t I know you?”

Daisy grinned sheepishly. “I may have been here a few years ago.”

“Yes, you almost wrecked the place with your powers because you and your friend were high,” the man replied. He rolled his eyes. “You could’ve at least warned your friend to not eat the puffies.”

“Wait, Kora ate the puffies? Shit.” Daisy got up from the table. “Where is she?”

“Over at the bar, and she’s already burned her handprints into the bar,” the man explained before walking away.

“I am so sorry about this,” Daisy apologised to Carol as she began to make her way over to the bar.

Carol stood and began to follow Daisy. “It’s fine. Do you need any help?”

“Possibly.”

By the time the two women reached the bar, Kora was slumped over in a bar stool with her head pressed against the bar’s surface, handprints burned into the wood on either. She smiled when she saw Daisy. “Hey, you. I had some really cool looking snacks, but now my head feels funny.” She squinted at the space next to Daisy. “Why are there three of you?”

Daisy sighed. “We need to get you back to the Zephyr.”

Kora nodded and stood from the barstool. She went to loop her arm around Daisy’s shoulders so she could steady herself but unfortunately went to lean on one of the two Daisy’s she was hallucinating and crashed onto the floor face first.

Daisy bent down and hauled Kora back to her feet. Carol took a step closer and stood on the other side and helped steady Kora.

“Thanks,” Daisy said.

“You’re welcome,” Kora slurred.

“Bitch, do you really think I was talking to you?” Daisy demanded.

Carol laughed at the sisters as they began to make their way back towards the Zephyr. “Daisy, I have to ask what happened the last time you were here?”

“It’s really embarrassing,” Daisy replied. “But you did tell me that story about Fury, so I guess I owe you one. Last time I was on Kitson, me and my friend ate some of the puffies not knowing that they were hallucinogenic. Long story short, we got super high, had emotional breakdowns about our then disastrous love lives, and then trashed the place after getting in a fight with other people.” She let out a slight laugh. “I couldn’t actually aim my powers properly. Simmons had to grab my arm and direct my shots.”

Carol laughed as the three of them approached the Zephyr. Sousa and a couple of other agents came jogging down the ramp as they approached.

“What happened?” Sousa asked as he looked at Kora.

“Kora didn’t realise that the food she was being offered was hallucinogenic, even though she knew what happened to me and Simmons last time we were here,” Daisy explained. She and Carol passed Kora off to the other agents. “Take her to her bunk and make sure she doesn’t do anything too stupid; the effects should wear off in a couple of hours.” The agents nodded and took Kora away.

Carol pulled a pager out of her pocket and handed it to Daisy. “It was nice to meet you, Daisy. If you ever need me, just call me using that.”

“Thanks,” Daisy said as she took the pager from Carol. “And I’m sorry that our meeting got cut short.”

“It’s fine,” Carol replied. “Just maybe make sure that your agents know what food they shouldn’t eat on this planet. Actually, I think just staying away from this planet would be a good idea.”

Daisy let out a laugh. “That’s probably a good idea.” She smiled at Carol. “Well, I guess we’ll be seeing you around.”

“I guess we will,” Carol replied. Her body and hair began to glow, and Carol took off from the ground, soaring off into the atmosphere and then out into space.

“She seemed nice,” Sousa commented.

“Yeah, she was.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set before Endgame, hence the Barton family not being mentioned in the stable personal lives conversation.
> 
> Also, the next couple of chapters may take a little longer to go up, but they're going to be bigger chapters.


	12. Dress Alterations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter could've been done a few hours ago, but I was too busy crying over Julie and the Phantoms, in case you were wondering about my mental state lmao

_May 2 nd, 2021_

Daisy had almost finished the report she was working on when the notification popped up. She frowned at the screen when she saw that it was Yo-Yo requesting a video call but accepted the call. “Yo-Yo, hey, what’s up?”

“Daisy, hi,” Yo-Yo greeted. “Are you alone right now?”

Daisy frowned again at the unusual question. “I am. I’m in my bunk, just working on some reports. Why?”

“What about Sousa?”

“He’s doing inventory,” Daisy answered. “Yo-Yo, come on, what’s this all about?”

“I’m either going to need to step down from being a bridesmaid or we’re going to need to get my dress altered,” Yo-Yo answered.

“I mean, sure, we can get the dress altered. But can I ask why?” Daisy asked.

“Because I’ll be seven and a half months pregnant by then,” Yo-Yo explained.

Daisy let out an excited screech at her friend’s answer. “Really?” Yo-Yo nodded. “Oh my god, I’m so happy for you. Yo-Yo, this is amazing news. And we can definitely get the dress altered. Who else knows?”

“Just you, Mack and Flint,” Yo-Yo answered. She let out a slight smile. “Mack was so excited when I told him.”

“Did he cry?”

Yo-Yo laughed slightly. “Of course he did, we both did.”

“How did Flint take it?”

“He’s excited to be a big brother,” Yo-Yo replied. “He said he’s going to come back from the Academy every weekend to help and spend time with his baby sibling.”

“You’ll have May giving him a ride every Friday when he starts doing that. It’s what she did with Kora, used it as an excuse to visit,” Daisy said.

“Well, I look forward to it,” Yo-Yo said. “It’s good to find excuses to meet up with the rest of the team, we don’t do it often enough.”

“Speaking of the rest of the team, when are you telling them?” Daisy asked.

“We’re planning on telling everyone in a Framework meetup later today,” Yo-Yo explained. “I just thought that with all the wedding planning you’d want a heads up.”

Daisy heard the sound of Kora and Sousa talking as they walked down the hallway towards Daisy and Sousa’s bunk. “Daniel’s about to come in, so I’ve gotta go. But seriously, congratulations Yo-Yo.”

“Thanks, I’ll talk to you later.”

“Talk to you later, bye.”

“Bye.”

Daisy ended the call and closed her laptop just as Sousa walked through the door. “Hey babe, you done with the inventory?”

“Just finished it now,” he replied. He leant down to kiss her as he walked past to the other side of the room. “Who were you on a call with?”

“It was Yo-Yo, she was just checking on something to do with the wedding.”

“Anything I should be worried about?”

“If you want to find out, you’re going to have to use the Framework device that you hate so much for a whole team meet up,” Daisy teased.

“I can do that, although I still don’t fully trust the Framework, especially after everything you told me about what happened to you when you were in there,” Sousa replied.

“Don’t worry, Fitz guaranteed zero Nazis in this version of the Framework,” Daisy reassured. “And there’s no psychotic robot to change the parameters or unplug the Framework. It’s totally safe there.”

“When are meant to be meeting up with them?” Sousa asked.

“This evening,” Daisy replied. “You sure you’re in?”

“Of course, it’ll be good to see them.”

Daisy bit her lip to hold back a grin as she thought about Yo-Yo and Mack’s news. “Yeah, it will.”

***

“I can’t believe you managed to convince Danny-boy to do this,” Kora said as she joined Daisy and Sousa in their bunk for the Framework meetup. Daisy groaned as she handed the Framework chip to her sister. “What?”

“Stop calling him that,” Daisy complained.

“What? He doesn’t mind,” Kora defended. She turned to stare Sousa down. “Do you?”

“Well…,” Sousa replied.

Kora whacked him in the arm. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“I’m with your sister, I wanted you to like me,” he explained.

“You’ve known her longer than I have,” Kora pointed out. “Hell, you kissed her before she even knew about me. Sure, you don’t remember it happening, but it counts.”

“Guys, we’re going to be late,” Daisy interrupted. She watched Kora and Sousa put the chips on the sides of their heads before joining them in the Framework. “Really, the Krazy Kanoe again?”

She went to sit next to Coulson, Sousa and Kora coming to join her. The pair both went to sit in the seat next to Daisy at the same time. Kora glared at Sousa who just looked confused. Daisy cleared her throat to get their attention. Sousa, taking advantage of the distraction, slipped into the seat next to Daisy, leaving Kora to take the seat on his other side. As she looked around the room, Daisy realised they were the last ones to arrive.

“I told you we were going to be late,” she scolded.

Mack clapped his hands loudly to get everyone’s attention. “I know we said we weren’t going to be meeting in the Framework for a couple more months, however Yo-Yo and I have an announcement to make.” He looked over at Yo-Yo, the two of them grinning.

“I’m pregnant,” Yo-Yo announced. The room erupted into excited yells as everyone went over to the couple to congratulate them. Kora reached them first. She went to hug Yo-Yo, but her arms went straight through the other woman.

“Ah, yeah, still working on that,” Fitz apologised as Kora kept going and crashed into the chair behind her and Yo-Yo. “The original Framework had the processing power to allow for us to make physical contact with each other, but we were all directly wired into the system instead of using the remote access chips. I’ll get it working eventually.”

Kora pulled herself up from the floor. “A little warning would have been nice.” She turned her attention back to Mack and Yo-Yo. “But seriously, congratulations you two.”

Sousa stood next to Daisy, a few feet away from the rest of the group. “You don’t seem surprised. Is this what she called you about earlier?”

“She wanted to let me know first because we’d need to sort things out for the wedding, considering the fact that she’s a bridesmaid,” Daisy replied. “We’re getting the dress altered, it’ll be fine.”

“So, we should still be on Earth to meet our newest niece or nephew,” he said. “We are still planning on going back out on Zephyr-3’s next mission, right?”

“Oh, totally,” Daisy replied. “I’m loving our life in space, but I’m definitely looking forward to seeing my family in person again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mack and Yo-Yo have adopted Flint and he lives with them when he's not at the Academy, change my mind


	13. With This Ring, I Thee Wed

_September 30 th, 2021_

Daisy took in a deep breath as she looked at her reflection in the mirror on the top of the dressing table. Her long hair was styled into loose curls pulled back from her face and she was sporting a natural makeup look. She bit the inside of her lip slightly as she smoothed down the large skirt of her ball gown wedding dress.

“Are you okay?” May asked as she appeared by Daisy’s side, one of her hands coming to rest reassuringly on the younger agent’s shoulder.

“I’m fine,” Daisy replied, her hand coming up to rest on May’s. “Just nervous.”

“Good nervous or bad nervous?”

“Good nervous,” Daisy answered with a nod, before smiling slightly. “I couldn’t be more excited or feel happier than I do right now. But I’m still nervous.”

“Honestly, I’d be more worried about you if you weren’t worried right now,” May replied. “I remember how nervous I was on my wedding day.”

“I still can’t believe you married a shrink,” Daisy teased.

May grinned at Daisy. “Neither can I.” Behind them, the door to the small dressing room attached to the larger room the bridal party were getting ready in opened and Simmons walked out holding Alya’s hand. “Looks like Simmons has managed to get your flower girl into her dress.”

“How much longer until we go down for the ceremony?” Daisy asked.

“Another quarter of an hour,” May replied. Her phone buzzed in her bag. May took it out and let out a small sigh. “My Dad has managed to get himself lost in the carpark; I’d better go find him.”

“I’ll be fine,” Daisy promised. May smiled at her one last time before leaving the room.

Daisy turned her chair around, so she was facing the rest of the room. Simmons, Kora, and Yo-Yo were all in matching floor-length purple bridesmaid dresses; thankfully they were able to get Yo-Yo’s dress altered to fit over her belly. Alya was wearing a dress in the same shade of purple but hers only went to the top of her knees.

Alya grinned when Daisy turned around. “You look really pretty Auntie Daisy,” she said, causing the others to coo at her.

“Thank you Alya, that’s really nice to hear,” Daisy replied. “You look really pretty in your dress too.”

Alya’s smile widened. “Mummy wouldn’t let me wear it before today because she didn’t trust me to not get it dirty.” She paused for a moment with a thoughtful look on her face. “She’s probably right.”

Daisy let out a slight laugh. “Well, thank you Jemma for not letting Alya get her dress dirty.” Someone knocked at the door. “Come in.” Coulson walked into the room and smiled warmly when he saw Daisy. “Don’t start,” she warned.

“You look amazing,” he said as he brought his hand up to his face to wipe a tear away from his eye. “Simmons, why did you give me the ability to cry?”

“Coulson, stop it,” Daisy said, but couldn’t help but smile.

“Fine, it’s fine, I’m fine,” Coulson replied. “You guys ready to go?”

Daisy stood up and grinned at him. “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

***

“You ready?” Coulson asked. He, Daisy, and the rest of the bridal party were stood outside the door to room at the hotel where the wedding ceremony was about to take place.

Daisy nodded. “I am.”

“I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you,” Coulson said. “I mean, not just for this, I am so proud of everything you’ve achieved as a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., but for you to go from that girl we picked up-”

“Kidnapped,” Daisy corrected.

“Fine, you went from that girl we _kidnapped_ from her van in an alley that was so hesitant to trust us, to who you are now, with this family that you’ve chosen for yourself. And now you’re getting married,” Coulson said. “I’m proud of you for who you’ve become as a person, not just as an agent.”

“I thought we agreed on no crying,” Daisy replied.

“I’m not crying,” Coulson defended.

“No, but if you carry on talking like that, I will be. I’d like to make it down to the other end of the aisle before I start crying,” Daisy joked.

The door opened and Flint stuck his head through. “We’re ready to go.”

Coulson held his arm out to Daisy. “Let’s go.”

Daisy linked her arm with Coulson. “Let’s go,” she agreed before nodding at Flint. Flint grinned at her and opened the door. Simmons and Alya went first, the young girl scattering petals in the aisle as she went. Kora and Yo-Yo went next, and Flint had already made his way back to the front of the room, leaving just Coulson and Daisy. Daisy looked over at Coulson and nodded and the pair began to make their way down the aisle. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw Sousa waiting for her at the other end of the aisle, his groomsmen, Fitz and Mack, stood by his side. He smiled at her and Daisy could tell that he was trying not to cry, not that she was doing any better. They quickly reached the end of the aisle. Simmons grinned at Daisy and took the bouquet from her as Coulson let go of Daisy’s arm, before going to sit with May and Alya in the front row. She shot one last smile at Coulson before taking a couple of steps forward to stand with Sousa.

“You look beautiful,” Sousa said quietly to her as he took her hands in his.

“Stop, or I’m going to cry,” Daisy replied. The ceremony seemed to go by quickly to Daisy and it was soon time for the vows.

The officiant turned to look at Sousa. “Repeat after me. I, Daniel Jordan Sousa…”

“I, Daniel Jordan Sousa,” Sousa repeated. “Take thee, Daisy Louise Johnson, to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

It was then Daisy’s turn.

Daisy took a deep breath in before she started. “I, Daisy Louise Johnson, take thee, Daniel Jordan Sousa, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

“Do we have the rings?” the officiant ask.

Flint pulled the rings from his pocket and handed them to Sousa and Daisy.

Sousa smiled as he took the ring from Flint and carefully slid it onto Daisy’s ring finger. “This ring I give as a sign of my love and devotion. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Daisy took the other ring from Flint and put it on Sousa’s ring finger. “This ring I give as a sign of my love and devotion. With this ring, I thee wed.”

“By the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the officiant announced. “You may now kiss.”

Daisy grinned and leant in to kiss Sousa deeply. Around them, their guests started clapping. The couple were both beaming when they pulled apart and turned to face their guests. From behind them, someone began to throw confetti over the couple. Daisy turned around to see it was Simmons and Mack.

“Did you know they were going to do that?” Sousa asked as she turned back around.

“No idea,” she replied. She gripped his hand tightly in hers and the newlyweds began to make their way back down the aisle.

***

The reception was being held in a large room in the hotel. Daisy and Sousa were sat with the rest of the wedding party, as well as Coulson and May who were there as the mother and father of the bride, at a table at the front of the room. They’d managed to get through the speeches with minimal crying, mostly on Daisy’s part. Daisy looked over at her sister as the dinner was brought to their table.

“So, Kora, who was that girl you were talking with after we’d finished taking photos earlier?” she asked.

“Oh, she’s one of my students, Melanie Samson,” May answered. “Well, she was at least. She graduated in the same class as Kora earlier this month.”

“Thanks again for letting me count the Zephyr-3 missions as credit towards my graduation,” Kora said.

“I think someone is trying to change the topic,” Coulson pointed out.

“I am not!” Kora defended.

“Melanie Samson? The woman you put down as your plus one?” Daisy teased. Kora started to turn red. “So, do we need to give her the shovel talk?”

“No, you don’t. I’m a big girl with inhuman powers, I’ll be fine” Kora insisted.

“And so is my wife, but they all did it to me,” Sousa replied.

“You’re just looking for any opportunity to call Daisy ‘your wife’, aren’t you?” Kora demanded.

“And she’s back to changing the subject,” Fitz teased.

“Guys, stop it!”

“Wait, Melanie Samson? I know that name,” Mack said. “I just approved her for Zephyr-3’s next deep space mission.”

“Deep space is a good place to spend time with a romantic partner,” Simmons said to Kora. “Like a girlfriend.”

“Or a husband,” Daisy added.

“I’m gay and you two are disgustingly in love,” Kora replied. “And sure, maybe going into deep space with a _friend_ from the Academy. Can we drop it now?”

“Fine,” Daisy said. “I know we keep saying this, but seriously, thank you to all of you for everything you’ve done to help us over the last few months, we couldn’t have done this without you. And we mean that quite literally, it would’ve been impossible for us to arrange this all from space without anyone helping back on Earth.”

“It was nothing,” Yo-Yo replied. “But we’re expecting help with the Christening in a few months.”

Daisy grinned at her friend. “We can definitely help with that.” 

***

It was late in the evening and Daisy and Sousa were slow dancing to a song that the DJ was playing. Mack and Yo-Yo had already left as Yo-Yo was getting tired and Fitzsimmons had left as they had to put Alya to bed, but the rest of the team and a few of the guests were still there.

Daisy smiled as she looked up at her husband. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too. More than anything,” he replied. He leant down slightly to kiss her. As they pulled back, he noticed something over her shoulder and grinned slightly. “I think your parents are back together.”

Daisy followed his gaze and let out a slight gasp when she saw that May and Coulson were also slow dancing together. May noticed that Daisy and Sousa were looking, and mock glared at them, but something Coulson said made her laugh and she stopped glaring.

“They’re not the only ones, look at Kora and Melanie,” Sousa said.

Daisy looked over to the other side of the room and saw how close her sister and Melanie were dancing together. “Friends my ass.”

“Today was great,” he said.

“The best,” she replied. She leant up to kiss him again. She looked around the room and saw that there were very few of their guests were still there. “I think now it’s a socially acceptable time for the bride and groom to make their exit. Just please tell me you know where our room actually is, I’ve only been in the bridal suite.”

***

_October 1 st, 2021_

Daisy and Sousa were the last two to join the team at the brunch they’d organised in the hotel the next morning.

“Look who finally showed up,” Kora teased. “I was going to ask what took you two so long, but I don’t think I want an answer to that.”

“Shut up,” Daisy muttered, lightly hitting her sister in the arm as she took a seat next to her.

“So, what time are you two leaving for the honeymoon?” Coulson asked.

“Our flight leaves at four this afternoon,” Daisy answered.

“Hopefully, my leg won’t set off any airport security,” Sousa joked.

“I wouldn’t get your hopes up if I were you,” Yo-Yo joked. “You’ve just got to hope that you get security guards that don’t freak out when you remove a hyper-realistic prosthetic.”

Mack let out a laugh. “I wish I had a photo of the look on that man’s face when you took your arms off to prove they were prosthetics.”

“Where are you guys going?” May asked. Coulson bit his lip as he tried not to smirk. May glared at him. “What did you do? Did you tell them to go to Tahiti?”

“It’s a great place!” Coulson defended.

“I thought it was a magical place,” Fitz said as innocently as he possibly could as he took a bite of his food, earning a groan from the rest of the original team.

“Please don’t,” Simmons sighed.

“Coulson, you died in Tahiti,” May argued.

“But it was a lovely place,” Coulson replied.

“It was,” May admitted. “Up until the part where you died.”

“Guys, people are staring,” Yo-Yo said.

“If we didn’t go back to any of the places where any of us died, then we’re severely limiting the places we’re able to go,” Coulson argued.

“Like Zephyr-1,” Simmons pointed out.

“Or space,” Daisy added.

“And Afterlife,” Kora said.

“And the Lighthouse,” Yo-Yo replied. She looked around the room again. “Yeah, everyone’s staring at us.”

“Probably because we’re discussing all the times we died,” Fitz joked.

“And we are going to Tahiti,” Sousa said, finally answering May’s question.

May rolled her eyes at the smug look on Coulson’s face. “Well, I hope you two have a lovely time. And try not to die.”

“Seriously, we’re running out of space on the Wall of Valour,” Mack added. “The entire bottom row is just from the time we got stuck in the time loop, admittedly, most of it is just Daisy.”

“You’re welcome by the way,” Daisy said. “And we’ll do our best to not die.”

Coulson lifted his glass. “Well, before we all have to go, I think we should do one more toast for the happy couple. To Daisy and Sousa.”

“To Daisy and Sousa.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written three different proposals for this ship, so sue me if I got the vows off the internet


	14. The Honeymoon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter probably would've been up like two days ago, but even though I'm still working on this and the life after death sequel, my brain came up with another long idea and wouldn't let me stop until I wrote down all my ideas in case I forgot them

_October 2 nd, 2021_

“Honey, we’re about to land,” Sousa whispered as he gently shook Daisy awake.

Daisy groaned and rubbed her eyes as she woke up. “What time is it?”

“Two in the morning local time,” he replied.

“The second we get to our hotel, I am going to bed and sleeping for several more hours,” Daisy muttered sleepily as she leant her head on her husband’s shoulder.

Sousa pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Sounds like a plan.”

***

Daisy woke the next morning before Sousa. They were both lying on their sides, her face pressed against his chest with one of his arms wrapped around her, holding her close to him. She managed to slip out from within his arms and made her way across the large room and towards the balcony. Their room was facing the ocean; below them was the pool deck that gave way to a soft, sandy beach, the blue waves lapping lazily at the shore. Daisy closed her eyes and sighed contently as she let the warm breeze wash over her. She didn’t know how long she stood there when she felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her from behind.

“How long you’ve been up?” Sousa asked, pressing a kiss to her bare shoulder.

Daisy smiled as she leant back into her husband’s embrace. “Not long, I just wanted to enjoy the view.” She turned her head around to kiss him deeply. “What do you want to do today?” she asked as they pulled back. “I was thinking the beach.”

“Maybe in the afternoon,” he replied. “For now, I just want to spend time, here, with my wife.” Every word was emphasised with a kiss as he peppered kisses down the side of her face.

Daisy giggled as he kissed her. She turned around and leant back against the edge of the balcony as she brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders. “You, my lovely husband, are being more affectionate than usual, which is really saying something.”

“Well, my beautiful, gorgeous, amazing wife, it’s our honeymoon and I believe that means we’re allowed to be as disgustingly in love as we want,” Sousa replied. He grinned down at her and leant in to kiss her.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

***

Daisy rolled her towel out on one of the sun loungers on the beach, Sousa taking the one next to her. “How’s the leg with the water?”

“Fine, Simmons had me test it in the pool at the Coulson Academy before she would sign off on me for going back into the field,” he explained.

“You up for a swim later?” Daisy asked as she stretched out along the sun lounger. She looked over at Sousa where he was sat next to her. “Did I ever tell you how I learnt to swim?” Sousa shook his head. “I didn’t learn to swim growing up. Getting moved around from place to place so much, I was never in one place for long enough for anyone to care enough to teach me. May found not long after the team moved into the Playground and started taking me to a local pool once a week until I got the hang of it.”

“I learned to swim at the beach when I was a kid. My Dad taught me and Ruth, said his Dad taught him and his siblings so he was going to teach his kids. I couldn’t swim after the war but May helped me get back into the hang of it while at the Academy,” Sousa replied.

“May’s a great teacher, but a bit of a scary one,” Daisy said.

Sousa nodded in agreement. “She is. I feel sorry for her students.”

“Oh, those poor kids.”

***

_October 4 th, 2021_

“You still doing okay?” Daisy asked as she stopped to rest against a tree. After spending the last two days at the beach, they decided to go on a hike.

Sousa was walking a few feet behind her. “I’m good.”

“You sure you’re not having any problems with your leg?” Daisy asked.

Sousa raised one eyebrow. “You sure you’re not just looking to use me as an excuse to stop and take a break?”

Daisy elbowed him in the arm and shot him a cheeky grin as she found a place for them to sit a few more minutes. “I was being serious about your leg,” Daisy said as she handed him a water bottle. “It’s not playing up at all, is it?”

“I’m fine,” he reassured. He leant over and kissed her softly. “How much further do we have to go?”

“About another half an hour,” Daisy replied. “Coulson said the view at the end of the trail is worth it though.”

“It better be.”

“Shall we have a calmer day at the hotel tomorrow?” Daisy suggested.

“Definitely.”

***

_October 5 th, 2021_

Daisy swam to the side of the hotel pool as she saw Sousa walk along the pool deck. “Where’d you go?”

“It’s a surprise for tonight,” Sousa replied as he reached their sun loungers and removed his shirt so he could join her in the pool.

“Is it a reservation at the restaurant for tonight?” Daisy asked.

Sousa gave her an exasperated look. “Well, it was a surprise for tonight.”

Daisy rolled her eyes and leant in to kiss her husband. “Well, whatever it is, I look forward to it.”

***

Sousa pulled out Daisy’s chair for her as they arrived at their table that night. Daisy smiled at him as he went to sit opposite her.

“This is very nice, thank you,” Daisy said.

“Even if you figured out the surprise?” Sousa asked.

“Even then,” she replied.

The waiter came over and the couple ordered their food before going back to their conversation.

“So, what are our plans when we get back home?” Daisy asked.

“Well, we still have a couple of months left before Zephyr-3 leaves for the next mission,” Daisy replied. “I think it’s our turn to host Thanksgiving, but Fitzsimmons are doing Christmas. And we’ll be able to meet our new niece or nephew by then.” Daisy took in a deep breath. “Speaking of kids, it’s been a year since we last talked about that.”

Sousa frowned. “I thought we already agreed to wait a couple more years.”

“I know, it’s just I want to know where you stand on when we have kids before we commit to another months-long deep space mission,” Daisy replied. “Are you still okay waiting that long? Or are you ready now?”

“I’m ready whenever you are,” Sousa answered. “But I don’t want to start trying until you’re ready as well. I mean, you’re the one that’s going to be pregnant, this isn’t something I want if you feel like you’re being rushed into it too soon.”

Daisy smiled softly at him. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“So, when we get back from space next year, we’ll talk about it then?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

***

_October 6 th, 2021_

Daisy and Sousa were sat on a picnic blanket on the beach a short walk away from the resort. She let a relaxed sigh as she leant against his side.

“I can’t believe the week is almost over,” she complained.

“At least we don’t have to get up at three in the morning for our flight,” Sousa replied.

“We still have to get up at five,” Daisy said. “What are we going to do tomorrow?”

“We haven’t gone into Papeete yet, we could go look around there,” Sousa suggested. “Then get back to the hotel early and make sure we’re packed to go home.”

“I have some other suggestions for what to do when we get back to the hotel,” Daisy said, her voice taking on a flirty tone and she leant up to press a kiss to his jaw.

Sousa nodded. “Yeah, it would be a good idea to get to bed early if we have to be up early in the morning,” he joked. He turned his head to see his wife roll her eyes at him before leaning down to kiss her deeply.

***

_October 8 th, 2021_

“Daisy, it’s time to wake up,” Sousa said gently, shaking Daisy shoulder slightly to try and wake her. “Daisy?”

Daisy let out a groan and tried to bury her head back into her pillow. “Why do we have to get up at five am? And it’s going to be stupidly early when we land back home as well.”

“I don’t think anyone’s going to care if we spend all of tomorrow sleeping off our jet lag,” Sousa reassured. “Besides, we’re still on leave for another week, and even then, we’re only called in if we’re really needed until it’s time to go back to space.”

“I know,” Daisy replied with a groan. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to sleep now.” Daisy let out a yelp as she felt the covers get pulled away from her. “Daniel, what was that for?”

“You weren’t exactly going to get up by yourself, we’re you sleepy-head?” Sousa teased.

Daisy glared at him but relented and finally got out of bed. Having packed the night before, it didn’t take the couple long to get ready and leave to make their way to the airport. Once they were on their plane, watching Tahiti disappear through their window as they flew away, Daisy rested her head on Sousa’s shoulder.

“Go back to sleep,” he muttered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Daisy didn’t reply, just snuggled in closer to him, their joined hands resting in the space between the couple.

***

_October 9 th, 2021_

Despite having been able to sleep for a large part of their flight home, both Daisy and Sousa were exhausted when they arrived back at their apartment building, Daisy nearly falling asleep stood up as she leant slightly against her husband’s side as they rode the lift to their floor. When they got out, Sousa took Daisy’s suitcase from her.

“Wait here,” he said as he jogged ahead of her. He unlocked their front door and quickly dumped their suitcases inside before coming back for Daisy. He effortlessly picked her up, putting one arm around her back and the other under her knees until he had her in a bridal carry. “Let me have this one bit of tradition.”

Daisy put one arm over his shoulders to steady herself as she brought the other up to stroke his cheek. She grinned as she saw her wedding ring catch the light and she thought about how lucky they both her to have found each other like they did in 1955. “Only if you promise to put me down in bed, so I can go straight back to sleep.”

Sousa grinned at her. “Sounds like a plan, my beautiful wife.”

“Indeed it does, my handsome husband,” she replied. “Now come on, let’s get inside before any of neighbours see us; we don’t need anyone else complaining about how disgustingly in love we are, Kora is enough.”

Sousa let out a laugh as he carried back towards their home, making sure to close the door as he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of this chapter was brought to you by the bridge to helicopter by clc, which won't stop playing on a constant loop in my brain, please send help


	15. Esperanza

_January 2 nd, 2022_

Daisy leant against the kitchen counter at Mack and Yo-Yo’s house. The group had met up for Christmas at Fitzsimmons’ house, spent New Year’s at home and then had reunited that morning for the christening of Esperanza Faith Mackenzie-Rodriguez. They were now at Mack and Yo-Yo’s house. Simmons and Daisy had arranged a small party at their friends’ house after the christening.

Daisy was watching Sousa where he was sat at the table a few feet away. He was sat with Alya who was showing him some of her plans for the fish she wanted to invent.

“I see you still haven’t told your daughter she can’t design her own fish,” Daisy teased as Simmons came to join her.

“We’ve tried, but she’s very insistent,” Simmons replied. “How long has she been explaining her plans to Sousa?”

“At least twenty minutes,” Daisy answered. “I don’t think he understands what she’s talking about. I know I certainly didn’t when she showed me earlier. Not that I’m at all surprised, she’s really and mini you and Fitz.”

“I’m hoping that was a compliment.”

“It was,” Daisy reassured. She smiled at Yo-Yo as she walked back into the kitchen. “Hey, what’ve you done with our new little niece?”

Yo-Yo chuckled as she joined her friends at the kitchen counter. “Mack’s putting her down for a nap. Flint’s with him, he’s determined to learn how to help look after her.” She looked over to where Simmons and Daisy had been looking and smiled at Sousa and Alya. “He’s good with her, isn’t he?”

Daisy didn’t say anything, just nodded in agreement.

Simmons frowned at her friend’s response. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” Daisy replied with a slight shake of her head. “I was just thinking.”

“Are you looking forward to going back to space?” Simmons asked.

“It’s still not too late drop out of the mission,” Mack said as he walked back into the room.

“How’s Esperanza?” Yo-Yo asked.

“She settled down straight away,” Mack answered. He looked over at Flint who was just behind him. “He’s getting pretty good with her, and she seems to like him.”

Yo-Yo grinned at her adoptive son, reaching ruffle the hair on top of his head. “Of course she does, he’s a good kid.”

Mack grinned at his wife and son before looking over at Daisy. “And I mean what I said. You and Sousa can drop out of the mission any time before take-off. There are plenty of other agents on that mission that can take over command.”

Daisy nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

***

Daisy didn’t say much for the car ride home. Sousa kept shooting worried glances over at his wife as he noticed her staring blankly out of the window. She still hadn’t said much by the time made it back to their apartment and into their bedroom. She sat down on the foot of their bed as Sousa stopped in front of her.

“Daisy, are you okay?” he asked. “You’ve been acting different since the christening. Are you feeling okay? Did you eat something that made you sick? Are you sick?” He went to check her temperature using the back of his hand on her forehead.

Daisy frowned at him and slapped his hand away. “Babe, I’m not sick, I’m fine. It’s just…” She let out a slight sigh before continuing. “I don’t want to go back to space.”

“Okay…” Sousa replied. “What’s brought this on all of a sudden? Just the other week you were discussing flight plans with Kora.”

“I think I’m ready.”

“For what?”

“For kids,” Daisy answered. She looked up at Sousa from where she was sat on the bed, a small, nervous smile on her face. “I want to start trying for kids. I know what I said on our honeymoon, about wanting to wait another year, but I’m ready now.”

It took Sousa a few moments to process what she said. “Wait, really?”

“Really,” Daisy replied. She stood and took a step towards him and held his hands in her own. “I’m ready to have kids with you.”

Sousa grinned at her as he leant in to kiss her softly. Daisy was quick to respond, leaning in to deepen the kiss and undo the buttons of his shirt. Sousa was slightly out of breath when they pulled apart momentarily. “So, when you said you were ready now…”

“I meant now.”

“Okay.”

***

“Can I ask you something?” Sousa asked later that evening.

Daisy tilted her head up from where she was resting it on his chest to look at him. “Sure.”

“What made you realise you were ready now?” he asked.

“Earlier this evening, when I saw you with Alya,” Daisy answered. “You’re just so good with her, and I just wanted that life for us.”

“I want that life for us too,” Sousa replied. He let out a slight groan. “We’re going to have to explain to Mack that we’re dropping out of the mission. A week before the mission is supposed to start.”

“He told me today that we can drop out any time before the mission leaves,” Daisy said. “I think he could tell that I was having second thoughts about going back to space.” She sighed contently as she snuggled in closer to him. “But we’ll tell him in the morning.”

***

“What the hell?!” Kora demanded.

“It’s lovely to see you too Kora, why are you here?” Daisy asked. She was stood in the doorway to the apartment, staring down her sister.

Kora stalked past Daisy and walked into the apartment before throwing herself down on the sofa. “Mack called me, told me that I’m in charge of Zephyr-3 from now on because you’re not going.”

“We were going to call you, I just didn’t realise Mack would call you so soon,” Daisy promised.

“Why aren’t you going though?” Kora asked. “Just yesterday we were making plans, was it something Danny-boy said?”

“It was a mutual decision that we’re both at a point in our lives where we think that the best way to move forward with our lives is to stay on Earth,” Daisy answered, carefully avoiding saying anything that gave away the real reason they had chosen to stay; she didn’t feel ready to explain to her sister that was their reasoning to stay back on Earth. “And seriously, you’ve got to stop calling him that.”

“Not happening,” Kora muttered under her breath. “And I’m still going to go, if you’re not going to be there, then they need someone competent in charge.”

“And I guess you’re the best they’re going to get,” Daisy joked, earning a smile from her sister.

“Hilarious,” Kora replied. “And I would just like to say that me choosing to go has nothing to do with the fact that my girlfriend is also on the mission.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow as she came to sit with her sister on the sofa. “So, Melanie is officially your girlfriend now, is she?” Daisy teased.

Kora rolled her eyes. “Please don’t give her the shovel talk.”

“Of course I’m going to,” Daisy replied. “It is my duty as your older sister, and yes, I am the older sister, to make sure that your girlfriend knows that if she hurts you, they will never find the body.”

“That isn’t at all scary,” Kora said. The sisters laughed for a moment before Kora looked over at Daisy. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too,” Daisy replied. “Just promise you’ll be careful, dying in the cold abyss of space is kinda my thing.”

Kora let out a laugh. “I promise. And you be careful too. I don’t know what kind of missions you guys are planning on doing while you’re still on Earth, but I don’t want to get a call from Mack saying that something’s happened to you. And that goes to you too.”

Sousa looked up from where he sat at the desk in the corner of the room. “What?”

“Don’t get yourself killed while I’m gone,” Kora instructed.

“I’ll do my best.”

Kora checked the time on her phone. “I have to go. I was on my way to a date with Melanie when I got Mack’s call. Better tell her that I’m going to be in charge of the mission.” She and Daisy stood from the sofa and made their way to the front door. Kora hugged her sister tightly. “I’m going to see you again before I leave, right?”

“Of course you will,” Daisy promised. “We’ll be there at the Lighthouse waving you off.”

Kora grinned at her. “Well, I’ll see you then.”

“See you then.” Daisy closed the door behind her sister after she watched her leave.

“Why didn’t you tell her the real reason we’re not going?” Sousa asked as Daisy came back to the living room.

Daisy let out a sigh as she flopped down onto the sofa. “Didn’t want to jinx it. I feel like if we tell someone that we’re trying to get pregnant, then it’s never going to happen.”

Sousa left his typewriter at the desk as he went to join his wife on the sofa. He sat next to her and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Daisy leant in close to him and smiled slightly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “We’ll be fine,” he promised. “But if you don’t want to tell anyone until you’re actually pregnant, then I’m fine with that.”

“Thank you,” Daisy replied. She clasped his free hand in her own and tilted her head up to press a quick kiss to his lips. “I can’t wait for us to be parents.”

Sousa grinned down at her. “Me neither.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway, stream Lovesick Girls by Blackpink


	16. Negative/Positive

_May 24 th, 2022_

The timer on Daisy’s phone hit zero and she moved slightly on the bathroom floor to grab the pregnancy test from the counter. She took in a deep breath and turned the test over.

Negative.

Daisy bit the inside of her lip as she felt her eyes well up with tears. She couldn’t stop staring at the test. After a few moments, she let out an angry cry and threw the test across the room. She picked up her phone and dialled the number of the only person she wanted to talk to at that moment.

“Hi, Daisy, what’s up?” Simmons greeted as she picked up.

Daisy smiled when she heard her friend’s voice. “Jemma, you have no idea how happy I am to speak to you right now.”

“Wait, have you been crying?” Simmons asked. “Is it Sousa? Did you two fight? You know what, I’m on my way over, I never liked him anyway.”

“We didn’t fight,” Daisy interrupted. “And you don’t have to come over.” She took in a deep breath. “I’m calling you for medical reasons.”

“Oh,” Simmons replied. She seemed unsure of what to say next. “Is this anything to do with why you two didn’t go back to space?”

Daisy laughed slightly. “Were we that obvious?”

“I saw the look on your face when you were looking at him and Alya after the christening, it was kind of obvious where your mind was going,” Simmons teased. “And he’s clearly been ready to have kids with you for a long time.”

“I’m guessing that you didn’t mean what you said about Daniel.”

“Of course not, I was just trying to a supportive friend,” Simmons replied. “But seriously Daisy, what’s wrong?”

“We’ve been trying for five and a half, almost six months now, and I’m still not pregnant,” Daisy explained, feeling the tears threatening to come back. “I’m just can’t stop thinking that maybe my powers are the reason that I haven’t gotten pregnant. Or maybe something happened when I died in space, something that never healed properly after Kora revived me. Please just tell me that I’m being ridiculous.”

“All the tests we ran on you both after you got your powers and after Kora revived you didn’t show anything that would suggest anything was wrong with you,” Simmons reassured. “I mean, we weren’t running any tests related to fertility, but there hasn’t been anything other issues relating to your reproductive health, have there?”

“No, there hasn’t,” Daisy confirmed.

“Then I wouldn’t be worried,” Simmons replied. “These things can take time, Daisy. Normally, a doctor wouldn’t start ordering tests until it had been a year since you started trying.”

“So, we’ll give it a few more months?”

“Unless you really feel like this is something we need to be looking into,” Simmons said.

“No, I think I’m good,” Daisy replied. “Sorry about bothering you with this.”

“You weren’t bothering me at all,” Simmons reassured. “You’re allowed to be worried about something like this.”

Daisy heard the sound of the front door opening. “Daniel’s just gotten home, I’m gonna go now.”

“I’ll speak to you again soon,” Simmons said.

“Speak to you soon,” Daisy replied. “And Jemma, can you not tell anyone else the real reason we stayed on Earth? Not even Fitz?”

“Of course I won’t,” Simmons promised. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Daisy hung up the phone just as Sousa walked into the bathroom. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, who were you talking to?” Sousa asked as he leant against the doorframe.

“Jemma,” she replied, her eyes looking over at the pregnancy test where she had thrown it earlier.

Sousa followed her gaze and looked back at his wife’s face, still stained with fresh tear tracks. “Another negative?” Daisy nodded as she wiped away another tear. He went to sit on the floor with her and pulled her close to his side. “I thought you said you’d wait for me when you took another test, so you weren’t alone if you got another negative.”

“I know,” Daisy replied. “It’s just I was _so_ sure that it was going to be positive this time, I couldn’t wait. I wanted to have a positive test waiting for you when you got home, I got carried away.”

“Is that why you called Simmons?”

Daisy nodded. “I thought there might be something to do with my powers that was stopping me from getting me pregnant.”

“What did she say?”

“She doesn’t think there is. She told me that she wouldn’t recommend running any tests until it had been a year.”

Sousa nodded. “So, until then, we just keep trying.”

“Just keep trying.” She tilted her head up slightly to kiss her husband before snuggling up against him.

***

_July 2 nd, 2022_

Daisy woke to the feeling of someone peppering kisses along her cheek. She giggled slightly as she rolled over to face Sousa. “Good morning.”

“Happy birthday gorgeous,” he replied before leaning in to kiss her properly.

Daisy groaned. “You promised you weren’t going to make a big deal out of it.”

“I may have lied,” Sousa replied. He climbed out of bed and started to make his way towards the kitchen. “I’m making you breakfast in bed and you can’t say no.”

Daisy rolled her eyes as he went. She reached over to grab her phone from the bedside table and started flicking through the various birthday messages from her family. The smell of the food Sousa was cooking reached the bedroom and Daisy began to feel nauseous. She tried to sit up and the nausea immediately got worse. Daisy leapt out of bed and raced to the ensuite bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time before she started to throw up.

“Honey, are you okay?” Sousa called from the kitchen. Daisy heard him turn off the stove and make his way towards the bathroom. He knelt down next to her and pulled her hair back as he began to soothingly rub her back.

Daisy slumped against his side when she was done. “Yeah, I’m fine, throwing up was exactly how wanted to start my morning…” She trailed off as she looked at the cabinet. “Out.”

“What?”

“Out!” she repeated as she chased him out of the room before closing the door behind him. Sousa was sat on the end of their bed when she walked out of the bathroom.

“What was that all about?” Sousa asked as she walked into their bedroom.

“We still have another thirty seconds to wait,” Daisy said as she thrust a pregnancy test in his direction. He stared at her in stunned silence for a few moments. “My period is late and after that incident in the bathroom, maybe it’ll positive this time. And I know that’s what I said last time-”

“Daisy,” Sousa interrupted, cutting off her nervous rambling. He smiled softly at her. “I think it’s been thirty seconds.

Daisy took in a deep breath before coming to sit next to him. She gripped his arm tightly as he turned the pregnancy test over in his hands.

Positive.

Daisy let out and excited and relieved laugh. “I’m pregnant.” She looked up at Sousa. He had a wild grin on his face, and she knew she looked the same. “We’re having a baby.”

“We’re gonna be parents,” Sousa said. He let out a laugh similar to her own. “We’re going to be parents.” He wrapped her tightly in her arms and stood up, spinning her around as he did so. He kissed her deeply as he settled her back on the ground. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Daisy replied. “Look, I know we’re meeting up with the rest of the team for dinner tonight, but I don’t want to tell them yet. I’d rather wait a couple more months until there’s less of a chance that something could go wrong. And when Kora can be here to hear the news in person.”

“Of course, whatever you want,” he agreed.

“Although, Jemma will probably figure it out pretty quickly.”

***

Daisy looked up as she was washing her hands and caught sight of Simmons in the bathroom mirror. She turned around to face her. “What?”

“You’re pregnant,” Simmons stated.

“How?” Daisy demanded. “How in the hell did you work that out so quickly?”

Simmons face split into a grin. “So, I was right?”

“Yes, you were right,” Daisy replied, a grin that matched Simmons’ slowly beginning to spread across her face. “We just found out this morning. But I’m only a couple of weeks along at the most, so we’re not telling anyone yet, so you can’t say anything.”

“I won’t,” Simmons promised. “Oh, come here.” Simmons opened her arms and hugged her friend. “I’m so happy for you two.”

“Thank you,” Daisy replied.

“We’d better go before the others wonder where we are,” Simmons said.

“Did you follow me to the bathroom just to confront me about that?” Daisy asked.

Simmons shrugged and did her best to look innocent as they made their way to the front of the restaurant where the rest of the team were waiting for them. Once they’d finished saying goodbye, Daisy and Sousa made their way over to their car to head home.

“Simmons figured it out, didn’t she?” Sousa asked.

“Pretty much immediately,” Daisy replied. “She said she’s really happy for us.”

“I can’t wait to tell everyone else.”

Daisy smiled. “Me neither, just a few more weeks until Kora gets back from space.”

“What about waiting until our anniversary?” Sousa suggested. “We were planning on having everyone come over then anyway.”

“I like that,” Daisy replied. “So, we’ve got to keep this a secret for another three months? I think we can manage that.”


	17. An Anniversary Announcement

_September 30 th, 2022_

Daisy looked in the mirror as she flattened the fabric of her loose blouse over the small bump that was beginning to show. A small smile spread across her face as she rubbed her belly, thinking about all of her and Sousa’s conversations about names and plans for the nursery. The sound of a knock at the front door snapped her out of her thoughts.

“I’ll get it,” Sousa called back into the apartment. Daisy listened and heard her husband greet Fitzsimmons and Alya and him telling Simmons where to find Daisy.

Simmons joined Daisy in the bedroom a few moments later. “I see you’re going with the loose blouse to hide the baby bump, classic trick.” She grinned and hugged her friend. “I don’t know how you’ve managed to hide it for so long. You’re what, three and a half months along? How have you managed to avoid fieldwork for this long?”

Daisy let out a laugh. “I volunteered to help May at the Academy. That’s been keeping me pretty busy. And we’re telling everyone else today, so you don’t have to keep it a secret for much longer.”

“Oh thank god,” Simmons said as she let out a sigh of relief. “I think Fitz knows I’m hiding something from him.” The two heard the front door open as the rest of the team arrived. “They’re going to be so happy when you tell them.”

Daisy grinned at her. “Let’s go.”

***

The team were all sat around the table having just finished eating dinner. Sousa looked over at Daisy and she smiled excitedly at him.

Sousa waited for a lull in the conversation before speaking. “We didn’t just invite you here to celebrate our anniversary. Daisy and I actually have an announcement to make.” Daisy grabbed Sousa’s hand under the table as she grinned at him again.

“Oh my god, you’re getting a divorce,” Kora said, a horrified look on her face.

“What?” Sousa exclaimed. “You think we invited you to an anniversary party to tell you we’re getting divorced?”

Kora shrugged. “What, you’re both weird people, maybe you would.”

“No, Daisy’s pregnant, we’re not getting divorced,” Sousa replied. Silence fell over the table as people realised what Sousa had just said. Daisy facepalmed and Simmons’ hands covered her mouth as she attempted to stifle her laughter. “I just said that out loud, didn’t I?”

Daisy let out a sigh. “Babe…”

“Wait, you guys are having a baby?” Flint asked.

“We are,” Daisy confirmed. Everyone began to congratulate the couple and May, who was sat next to Daisy, reached over to hug her surrogate daughter.

“I’m really happy for the both of you,” May said.

“Thank you,” Daisy replied. “Why do I get the feeling you already knew?”

“I didn’t know it was this exactly, but I could feel how happy you both were whenever I saw you,” May answered. “Especially today and when we saw you for your birthday. I’m guessing that’s when you found out.”

“It was,” Daisy replied.

“Did you know?” Fitz asked as he looked at his wife, who was trying very hard not to laugh.

“She was the first person we told,” Daisy explained. “Well, not so much told, but the first person who figured it out and I told her she was right.”

“Is this why you guys didn’t go back to space?” Kora asked.

Daisy nodded. “We decided that we were ready to have kids and start our lives here on Earth.”

“Then I think we should keep Kora in charge of S.W.O.R.D. for the foreseeable future,” Mack said. He smiled at Sousa and Daisy. “And congratulations to the both of you. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we’re all really happy for the two of you.”

“Thank you,” Sousa replied. He squeezed Daisy’s hand under the table. “We’re really happy too.”


	18. Meaning Behind A Name

_December 15 th, 2022_

“Why’s there a moving van outside?” Coulson asked as he and May walked into the apartment.

“Good to see you too AC,” Daisy greeted as she hugged him. “And our neighbour is moving out, she’s retiring to Florida.”

“For a moment there, I thought you’d secretly asked us here to be your movers,” Coulson teased. “Why did you ask us here? We’re seeing you in a few days at Fitzsimmons’ for Christmas.”

“Shall we go sit down?” Daisy suggested as she led Coulson and May into the living room. Sousa joined them from the kitchen with a tray of drinks.

“This feels serious,” May said as they all sat down.

Daisy took in a deep breath. “We’ve been talking about baby names and we’ve come up with a name for our daughter.”

“You’re having a girl?” May asked.

“We are,” Sousa replied with a nod. “We were planning on telling everyone next week. We weren’t planning on telling anyone the name until after she’s born, but we wanted to tell you both now.”

“We thought that as the grandparents, you two got to know first,” Daisy explained. “You guys are okay with being Grandma and Grandad, right?”

“Of course,” Coulson replied.

“We’d love to,” May said. She smiled at Daisy. “Come on, tell us the name.”

“Well, for the middle name, we’re going with Ruth,” Daisy said. “It was Daniel’s sister’s name and we wanted to honour her.”

“That’s a lovely name,” Coulson replied. “But you’re killing us here, what’s her first name?”

“Pippa,” Sousa answered. “It comes from the name Philippa, the feminine version Philip.”

Daisy looked over at Coulson and saw that he was just staring at the couple with a shocked look on his face. “Coulson, are you okay?”

“Y-you’re naming your baby after me?” Daisy nodded. “Why?”

“Because I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” she replied. “If you didn’t abduct me from my van and add me to your team, I wouldn’t be this person. I wouldn’t have found the family I have today, I don’t think I would’ve become a person who wanted this domestic life, I wouldn’t have even met Daniel.” She briefly glanced at her husband as she wiped a few tears away from her eyes. “I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. because I thought it would be the best way to find my parents. And sure, I met Jiaying and Cal, but I found you, both of you.”

May stood from the sofa she where she was sat with Coulson and made her way over to Daisy. She gathered the younger agent in her arms and hugged her close to her. “We love you. And we’re both so proud of the person you’ve become since you joined the team.”

Sousa slid over slightly on the sofa to make room for Coulson to join May and Daisy, the man coming over to hug the two women.

“May’s right,” Coulson said. “She always is, but especially about this. And I am so touched and honoured that you’ve chosen to name your daughter after me. I don’t even know how to explain how much this means to me.” He looked up over Daisy's shoulder to look at Sousa. “This is a group hug now, you’re joining.”

“Yes sir,” Sousa replied before joining the hug. May and Coulson both lifted one arm to allow him into the hug. He ended up with one arm around Daisy, the other around May. He pressed a kiss to Daisy’s cheek as he pressed in closer to her.

“I know it’s going to be hard, but you can’t tell anyone else the name yet,” Daisy said when the group pulled apart.

“I won’t,” Coulson replied.

“Promise?” Daisy asked.

“We promise,” May replied. She smiled at both Sousa and Daisy. “We won’t tell anyone, but we’re really happy for the two of you.”

“Thanks,” Daisy said. She looked over at her husband and smiled. “We’re really happy too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Throwback to the last chapter of A Week After Death, where I mentioned I'd used a random name generator to come up with the name Pippa and multiple people had to point out to me, the person who looked up the name on behind the name, that Pippa comes from Philippa, which comes from Philip as in Phil Coulson because I am that dumb tm and somehow managed to miss that connection


	19. The New Neighbours

_December 29 th, 2022_

Despite having been back home from Fitzsimmons’ for two days, neither Daisy nor Sousa had seen their new neighbours. They knew they’d moved in while they were away for the week but had so far hadn’t seen them. Sousa had suggested that if either of them were to see them, they’d invite them over and welcome them to the neighbourhood.

“That’s a weirdly normal and domestic thing to do,” Daisy had joked as they unpacked.

“I mean, that is the kind of life we have at the moment,” Sousa had pointed out.

“I know,” Daisy had replied. “It still just feels weird to have this sort of life; after everything we’ve been through, it’s nice to have a change of pace.”

Daisy didn’t give much thought to their conversation until a few days later when Sousa walked back into their apartment, a basket of laundry balanced against his side. Daisy looked up and smiled at him as he walked through the door.

“Hey,” he greeted. “I finally met one of our new neighbours. I invited them over like we said we would.”

“That’s good, what time did they say they’d be over?” Daisy asked.

“He said at about seven,” Sousa answered. “His name was Amadeus, didn’t catch his wife’s name but he said she’d be coming as well. He offered to bring beer and I said we’d order a couple of pizzas.”

“Great, you get the rewards of hosting the new neighbours, while your poor pregnant wife doesn’t even get to share a beer with our new neighbours,” Daisy joked.

Sousa cringed. “Sorry, I didn’t even think of that.”

“It’s fine,” Daisy replied. “I’ll just take some of your pizza.” She stood up and began to make her way towards their bedroom. “I need to go change; I want to be wearing something other than sweatpants when we meet our new neighbours.”

“You look beautiful,” Sousa called after her as she went.

Daisy let out a slight laugh. “Babe, you’re my husband, you have to tell me that.” She changed and made her way back to the sofa.

About half an hour later, Sousa got a text from the pizza delivery letting him know their pizzas had arrived. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he promised, pressing a quick kiss to his wife’s lips as he went. He had only been gone a for a couple of minutes when Daisy heard a knock at the door. She pulled herself up from the sofa and made her way over to the door.

“Hi, I’m Daisy, it’s great to meet… Bobbi?”

The shocked face of Bobbi Morse stared back at her. “Daisy… what are you doing here?”

“I live here,” Daisy replied. “What are you doing here?”

“Hunter said our neighbour invited us over to have dinner with him and his wife,” Bobbi answered.

“Amadeus… Hunter’s real first name, that’s who Daniel saw earlier,” Daisy realised.

“Wait, so you’re married?” Bobbi asked. She looked down at Daisy’s hand in search of her wedding ring and gasped when she spotted her friend’s belly. “And you’re pregnant?”

“You making friends already Bob?” Hunter’s voice came from down the hall. He had the same grin on his face that Daisy still remembered all these years later, although it was quickly replaced with a look of shock when he saw Daisy stood in front of him. “Daisy? What are you doing here?”

“She’s married to the man you met earlier,” Bobbi explained. “And she’s pregnant.”

Hunter placed the pack of beers he was carrying on the floor and reached over to hug his friend. “I missed you,” he muttered. “We both have. You and the rest of the team, we’ve missed you all.”

“I missed you guys too,” Daisy replied. She pulled back from Hunter and held the door open. “Would you like to come in?” Bobbi and Hunter both grinned at her as they made their way into the apartment.

“So, how’s everyone else doing?” Hunter asked. “Last I heard, you lot had been sent off to the future and I was helping Fitz get there.”

“Yeah, that’s a long story,” Daisy replied. “I’ll explain later. But everyone’s doing good. Well, Yo-Yo lost both of her arms and Coulson died, again, and is now a robot, but other than that, everyone’s doing great. Fitzsimmons got married, so did Mack and Yo-Yo. And Fitzsimmons have a seven-year-old daughter and Mack and Yo-Yo had a little girl just over a year ago. They also adopted a kid from the future, but again, long story.”

“How can Fitzsimmons have a seven-year-old already? Or is that another long story?” Bobbi asked.

Daisy nodded. “It involves time travel; a lot of our stories do these days.”

“Speaking of stories, where and when did you meet this Daniel?” Hunter questioned. “Fitz didn’t mention him when I saw him, so he must’ve come into the picture after that.”

Sousa walked back into the apartment at that moment and Bobbi’s eyes widened in shock when she realised who he was. She turned to face Daisy with an incredulous look on her face. “Daniel, as in Daniel Sousa?”

Hunter looked between the two women and Sousa with a confused expression. “What are you talking about?”

“That’s Daniel Sousa, the first fallen S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, should’ve died in ’55, but here he is in the twenty-first century and married to Daisy,” Bobbi replied. She looked back at Daisy. “Long story involving time travel?” Daisy nodded. “Thought so.”

Sousa had a lost look on his face when he looked over at his wife for answers.

“Daniel, this is Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter, our new neighbours and people I used to work with at S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Daisy explained.

“Wait, Bobbi and Hunter, the ones that everyone keeps mentioning, especially Mack and Fitzsimmons?” Sousa asked.

“Aw, they remember us,” Hunter joked. He shot Bobbi a look. “They tell all their new friends about us.”

Bobbi rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry about my husband.”

“It’s fine,” Daisy replied. “I almost missed it.” She shot Hunter a look. “Almost.”

Sousa set the pizzas down on the coffee table as everyone sat down on the sofas. “Did you two know we were living here?”

“No idea,” Bobbi said. “And you didn’t realise we were your new neighbours?”

“Honestly, I forgot that Amadeus was Hunter’s real first name,” Daisy laughed.

Bobbi turned to face her husband. “And why are you introducing yourself as Amadeus?”

“It sounds smarter than Lance,” he replied with a shrug.

“Where does the name Lance even come from?” Daisy asked. “Your full name is Amadeus Ravenclaw Hunter.”

“You can get it from Ravenclaw if you’re willing to rearrange a few letters,” he argued.

“I thought Fitz and Mack were exaggerating how weird he was in their stories,” Sousa said as he looked between the three. “But I was wrong.”

“I’m trying to figure out if I should be offended or not,” Hunter replied.

“I know you kept telling me that everything is a long story, but you have to tell us the story of how you met,” Bobbi said as she took a slice of pizza from the box.

“We were on a mission that involved travelling to the past,” Daisy began to explain. “We had to infiltrate Area 51 in ’55. Coulson and Simmons went in and got caught. I went in after them.”

“She broke into my office and pretended to be CIA,” Sousa added. “And then locked me in a cell.”

“You said you were in ’55, the year he was meant to die,” Hunter pointed out. He looked over at Sousa. “No offence.”

“None taken, I know I was supposed to die then,” Sousa replied. “I know I was meant to die back then. I was actually meant to die the next day, but they saved me and took me with them. I didn’t intend on staying with them, I was going to leave the team when we were in the seventies, but things changed.” He glanced over at Daisy and smiled reassuringly at her as they both remembered what had happened to Daisy when they were in the barn. “I realised that I needed to be with the team, and things went from there between the two of us.”

“He doesn’t actually remember our first kiss,” Daisy teased. “We got trapped in a time loop and only me and Coulson could remember what was happening when the time loop reset. We kissed in the loop before we were able to break out of the loop, so he only just missed being able to remember.”

“Sounds like you had a crazy few years without us,” Hunter said. “When’d you get married?”

“Last September,” Sousa answered.

“And now you’re having a baby,” Bobbi exclaimed. “Seriously, Daisy, after everything we went through together, I am so happy for you.” She smiled at her friend. “Is May still teaching you Mandarin? I remember you asked her to teach you a few weeks before we left.”

“She has,” Daisy replied in Mandarin. “I’m not completely fluent, but I’m still pretty good. Kora’s been helping me as well.”

“Kora?”

“My sister?”

Bobbi raised an eyebrow. “Since when did you have a sister?”

“Since we kidnapped her while we time travelling,” Daisy replied.

“That seems to happen to you a lot,” Bobbi teased.

“Did you understand any of what they just said?” Hunter asked Sousa.

“About half,” he replied. “Probably would’ve gotten more if they were talking slowly.”

“He speaks Mandarin?” Bobbi asked, looking impressed.

“Me and Kora have been teaching him,” Daisy said, switching back to English. “We’ve doubled down on lessons since we found out I was pregnant so we could bring our daughter up speaking Mandarin.”

“You’re having a girl?” Bobbi asked.

“Yeah, we found out a few weeks ago,” Daisy replied. “We told everyone last week, but we’re waiting until after she’s born to tell anyone her name.”

“Do you want to see the rest of the team again?” Sousa asked. “Because they’re going to be here for New Years’ Eve.”

Bobbi smiled. “That would be amazing.”

“We won’t tell them until they get here thought,” Sousa added. Everyone else turned to look at him. “It’ll be a nice surprise when they get here.”

Daisy let out a slight laugh. “I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when they get here.”

“I can’t wait to see them again,” Hunter said.

“I know,” Bobbi agreed. “We’ve missed so much; I don’t want to miss any more time.”

“Just two more days and they’ll be here,” Daisy said. She let out a slight laugh. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hunter, I love you, but what even is your name and where does the Lance come from?


	20. Happy New Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware I got slightly side-tracked by a week after birth and this chapter took forever to update. Future chapters will be kinda sporadic for a while because I'm working on a load of stuff for Dousy week on tumblr and also I have to knit five presents by Christmas, and I've not even started the first one because I'm still working on the prototype, so wish me luck

_December 31 st, 2022_

“Kora just texted to say she’s bringing Melanie,” Daisy called to Sousa from the kitchen. She looked around at the plates of food they had made up. “Do you think we’ll have enough food for everyone?”

Sousa joined her in the kitchen, resting his head on her shoulder as he stood behind her. He looked around at the plates of food that were covering practically every surface available. He cringed slightly. “I think we’re at risk of running out,” he replied sarcastically.

Daisy jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow before turning around to face her husband, her hands coming up to rest on his shoulders. “Rude,” she joked. She looked back at the food again. “Sorry, it’s just with Bobbi and Hunter coming around as well, and this being the first time that the rest of the team are going to see them in years, I guess I’m just nervous.”

Sousa pressed a kiss to her forehead, earning him a small smile from Daisy. “Honey, it’s going to be fine.”

“I know,” Daisy replied. “It’s just… we’ve lost so many members of the team over the years, the thought of being able to have just some of them back… it’s a lot.”

A knock came from the front door. “I’ll go get it,” Sousa offered.

Daisy pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before moving away from him to allow him out of the kitchen. She checked all the plates one last time before she made her out of the kitchen. Bobbi and Hunter had been the first ones to arrive and seemed just as nervous as Daisy was.

“Good to see you two again,” Daisy said as she walked into the living room.

“You too,” Bobbi replied. “When does everyone else get here?”

Daisy checked the time on her phone. “Coulson and May should be here in about ten minutes, possibly less.”

“Are they….?” Hunter asked.

“Your guess is as good as ours at this point,” Sousa replied.

Hunter nodded. “And he’s a robot?”

“A Chronicom-LMD,” Daisy corrected. Hunter stared at her with a blank look on his face. “He’s a robot.” There was another knock at the door. “And that will probably be them now.” She walked away from the group and opened the front door.

“How’s our little granddaughter doing?” May asked as soon as the door was opening.

“She’s doing fine, as is her mother, not that anyone asked,” Daisy replied. She reached over to hug May, grinning as Coulson joined them. “It’s not like you came here to visit me or anything.” She couldn’t hide her grin as she pulled back from the hug.

“What’s going on?” Coulson asked as he noticed the look on Daisy’s face.

“Come in and you’ll see,” she said. She led Coulson and May into the living room, turning to look at them as they realised who was sat on the sofas.

May turned to look at Daisy. “Where the hell did you find these two?”

“Next door,” Daisy answered as casually as possible as she fought to keep the smile off her face.

Bobbi stood from her seat on the sofa and made her way over to the older agents. “It’s good to see you again.”

May lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Bobbi in a tight hug. Bobbi shot a concerned look at Daisy over May’s shoulder.

“She does hugs now,” Daisy said.

“Yeah, you probably should’ve warned Bob about that before they got here,” Hunter added from where he was still sat on the sofa.

Daisy shrugged. “Thought it would be funnier to watch her find out this way.”

May mock glared at Hunter as she pulled back from Bobbi. “I take it you don’t want one then.”

Hunter’s face split into a grin. “Of course I want one.” He stood up, made his way over to her and accepted the hug. “Just glad you went for Bobbi first, knowing your history I would’ve thought that you were going to attack me.”

May let out a slight laugh. “Maybe I would’ve done.”

Another knock came from the door. Sousa offered to go get it while Daisy stayed in the living room with the others.

May gently took Daisy by the arm and led her to sit down on the sofa. “Sit,” May ordered as Daisy went to protest. “You’ve probably been getting everything ready for everyone all day and haven’t taken a break. Sit. Down.”

Daisy relented and took a seat on the sofa with May just as Sousa walked into the room with Fitzsimmons and Alya. Simmons froze on the spot when she realised who was in the room. “What… but… how?”

“Oh, these are our new neighbours,” Daisy explained as casually as possible. “I hope you don’t mind that we invited them.”

“It’s good to see you,” Bobbi said as she made her way over to Simmons. The younger woman lunged forward and hugged Bobbi close to her.

“I missed you,” Simmons said.

Bobbi smiled at her. “We missed you too.” She smiled when she spotted the small girl looking at her from where she was stood next to Simmons. “You must be Alya. We heard a lot about you from your Auntie Daisy and Uncle Daniel the other day.”

Alya looked up at her mother with a confused look on her face.

“This is Bobbi Morse,” Simmons explained. A look of recognition spread across Alya’s face as her mother continued talking. “We used to work together at S.H.I.E.L.D., we told you about her and Hunter, remember?”

Alya turned her attention back to Bobbi and stuck her hand out. “It’s nice to meet you,” the young girl said.

Bobbi grinned and accepted the handshake. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

“How was space?” Hunter asked as he made his way over to Fitz.

“Pretty rubbish,” Fitz replied as he hugged his friend. “Although, you should ask Daisy and Jemma about what happened on Kitson.” Daisy and Simmons both groaned in annoyance when the story was brought up.

“Wait, what happened on Kitson?” Bobbi asked.

“How we were supposed to know the puffies were hallucinogenic?” Daisy demanded.

“Wait, what?!” Hunter exclaimed.

“Yeah, lets just never bring that up again,” Simmons said.

“No, no, no, I think we should do that,” Coulson laughed. “This is a very funny story; I think they should tell it.”

Another knock at the door saved Daisy from the story. “I’ll get it,” Daisy said as she stood from the sofa. She made her way to the door and smiled when she opened the door and saw Kora and Melanie.

Melanie was just saying goodbye to another girl who continued walking down the hall and through the front door to Bobbi and Hunter’s apartment. She grinned at Daisy as she turned to face her. “Hey, it’s great to see you.”

“Hey,” Daisy replied, still looking in the direction of Bobbi and Hunter’s apartment. “Where’s she going?”

“She said she lives there,” Melanie answered. “Why?”

Daisy didn’t reply, just went straight inside the apartment in search of Bobbi and Hunter, Kora and Melanie trailing behind her. “Hey, you guys didn’t say anything about a roommate.”

“Short goth Chinese teenage girl?” Bobbi asked. Daisy nodded. “That’s Ying. She was out with her girlfriend; I didn’t think she’d be back this early.” She stood from the sofa. “I’ll go check on her, she’s still settling in.”

Sousa shot Daisy a quick look and she nodded back. “Do you want to bring her here?” he offered.

“You guys sure?” Bobbi asked. Daisy and Sousa both nodded. “Okay. I’ll let her know that you guys invited her, but she might not want to come.” She made her way out of the apartment.

Daisy turned to look at Hunter. “I didn’t think you and Bobbi wanted kids.”

“Yeah, me and Bob weren’t really planning on having kids, but then _we_ were adopted by Ying, a sixteen-year-old Red Room escapee in need of parents,” Hunter replied.

“Did you just say Red Room escapee?” Sousa asked, an incredulous look on his face.

“Got a problem with where my adopted assassin daughter grew up?” Hunter demanded.

“No problem,” Sousa replied. “Just had some… interesting experiences with people from the Red Room in the past.”

Bobbi came back a few moments later with the girl, Ying, and Mack, Yo-Yo, Flint and Esperanza trailing behind them.

“When were you planning on telling us Bobbi and Hunter had moved in next door?” Mack asked.

“Now,” Daisy answered. “What? We thought it would be funny to watch your faces.”

Mack rolled his eyes at her response. “You’re lucky I love you tremors.”

May made her way over to greet Ying and Simmons slid into the empty spot next to Daisy.

“Hey, are you guys still okay with… well, you know?” she asked.

Daisy nodded, a small grin spreading across her face as she reached out to grab her friend’s hand. “Of course we are. Besides, Bobbi and Hunter brought Ying, so I think that’s a pretty similar situation.”

“So,” Sousa said loudly, getting everyone’s attention. “Who’s hungry?”

***

“Yeah, you can definitely put me and Bobbi down as babysitters,” Hunter said to Daisy and Sousa. “I mean, we’re right next door and Ying would be down to help as well.”

“I heard my name,” Ying said, looking up from where she was sat with Flint on the other side of the room.

“We were just saying that you’d be down to babysit Daisy and Sousa’s daughter occasionally,” Bobbi explained.

“Yeah sure,” Ying agreed.

“I can’t believe that you guys are having a girl,” Flint complained. “Like, no offence to Alya, Esperanza or your daughter, or Ying, you’re cool, but there are too many girls. The next baby better be a boy.”

“Well, we’ll let you know when we find out in a couple of months,” Fitz replied. He smirked at Simmons as everyone else processed what he’d just said.

“Wait, Simmons is pregnant?” Mack asked.

Simmons nodded, grinning wildly. Daisy reached over to hug her friend as everyone congratulated her and Fitz.

Yo-Yo was watching her two friends. “Daisy, did you already know?” she asked.

“We told her and Sousa a couple of days ago, wanted to make sure they were okay with announcing while they were hosting a party,” Simmons explained.

“I may have cried,” Daisy added.

Simmons laughed slightly. “She definitely cried.” She shot her friend a grin. “With them being so close in age, I have a feeling that our kids are going to be pretty close.”

“I think you’re right,” Daisy replied, rubbing her bump.

***

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

The couples in the room all leant in to kiss, Flint offering Ying a fist-bump where they were sat in their corner of the room. Alya, who had been determined to stay up until midnight, was curled up asleep on the end of one sofa, not even bothered by the yelling from the adults.

Daisy had a giddy grin on her face as she pulled back from Sousa. “Happy new year babe.”

“Happy new year,” Sousa replied before kissing her once more. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Daisy said. She looked around the room at their family and smiled before looking back at her husband. “I think we’re going to have a good year this year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to come yell at/with me on [Tumblr](https://puddle-of-awesomeness.tumblr.com) either about Dousy or the joys of knitting, whatever takes your fancy
> 
> Side note: I am a Ying Liu stan first and a person second


	21. The Nursery

_January 8 th, 2023_

“Daisy, you-”

“No, Daniel, I can do this,” Daisy insisted. “I’m six months pregnant, not dying, I can help with the nursery.”

“I was going to say that you have paint on your cheek,” Sousa replied.

“Oh.” She grabbed a tissue and wiped at her cheek. “Any better?”

Sousa crossed the room, took the tissue from her, and wiped the last of the paint from her cheek. “Much better.” He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek before heading back where he had been painting the wall. “Did we ever decide where we were putting all the furniture?”

“Crib under the window, changing table and rocking chair against the wall opposite the closet,” Daisy replied. She grabbed a tub of white paint from the dresser and pried it open. “I’ll start on the rocking chair; you get that wall done.”

“We’ve got a lot of purple paint,” Sousa pointed out.

“Yeah, well, I love purple and I think Pippa’s going to love it too,” Daisy replied. She shot him a cheeky grin. “Get painting Agent Sousa.”

“Of course Agent Johnson.” 

***

Sousa had just finished moving all the furniture back into place when Daisy lugged in a large box, dumping it on the floor in the middle of the room.

“That’s everything that the rest of the team have bought for us so far,” Daisy said.

“So far?”

“We’ve still got three more months before she’s born and it’s not like they’re going to stop buying stuff after she’s born,” Daisy replied. She opened the box and sat cross-legged on the floor as she began to look through the box. “I think at least half of this is from Fitzsimmons.”

“This is probably payback for all the stuff we got for Alya,” Sousa said.

Daisy nodded her head. “I do remember Simmons saying something along the lines of ‘you spoil my kid, I’ll spoil yours’. Although that was like three years ago, we weren’t even engaged yet, let alone married and trying for kids.”

“Guess it was obvious to everyone else that this was always where we going to end up,” Sousa replied.

Daisy reached into the box and began to sort through the items. She handed a stack of clothes. “Can you put those in the dresser? I’ll start sorting through the toys.” She had just started sorting through the pile of toy monkeys from the Fitzsimmons family when she heard Sousa let out a small laugh. “What is it?”

“Did you get a chance to look through all of these?” he asked.

“Not yet,” she answered. “Why?” She frowned when she saw her husband trying not to laugh. “Daniel, what is it?” Sousa turned the onesie he was holding around to show Daisy. She let out a groan when she realised what it was. “Please tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

“It’s a Quake onesie,” Sousa confirmed. “From Mack and Yo-Yo.”

“That’s it, I’m telling Flint about Mackhammer.”

“They sent us ones in different sizes so she can have ones that fit as she grows,” Sousa continued.

“I don’t care if he’s the director, I’m gonna kill him.”

“Honey, can you please make your murder plans elsewhere, I’d like to have plausible deniability,” Sousa teased.

Daisy rolled her eyes at her husband’s response. “Plausible deniability, really? You’ll be helping me hide the body. You’re a good husband like that. Besides, you don’t want Pippa to grow up without her Mom because she’s in jail for murder.”

“Fine, I’ll help you hide the body _if_ you do murder Mack, but can we try to avoid that happening?” Sousa asked.

“I’ll do my best,” Daisy agreed as they went back to sorting their respective stacks of baby gifts. Sousa let out another laugh. “What is it?”

Sousa showed another onesie to Daisy, this one white with purple writing that read ‘Quake is my hero’. “I think this one is from Fitzsimmons.”

“I’m going to kill all of them,” she muttered. She pulled out a small box, quickly recognising the handwriting on the note taped to the top. She pried the box open and grinned when she saw what was inside. “Babe, look at this.” She held up a small model of Lola. “It’s from Coulson.” She opened the note and frowned at the words.

“What’s wrong?” Sousa asked.

“He said he’s going teach Pippa how to drive in Lola,” Daisy replied.

“Fuck no,” Sousa said.

Daisy’s eyes widened in shock as she looked up at her husband. “Babe, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you that before,” she said with a slight laugh.

“He’s not teaching her to drive in a flying car,” Sousa insisted.

“Yeah, he can wait until she’s got her licence,” Daisy said. She looked up and realised Sousa was staring at her. “What?”

“She’s never driving the flying car,” Sousa replied.

“Why don’t we discuss this closer the time when she is actually able to drive?” Daisy suggested. “I’m gonna put this up on the shelf, somewhere that a toddler won’t be able to grab it in a couple of years’ time.” She tried to stand from the floor but gave up after a couple of attempts.

“Need help?” Sousa asked as he walked over to her, holding his hand out.

Daisy reluctantly took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. “Thanks.”

“It’s nothing, Quake.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I love you.”

***

Daisy smiled as she stood in the doorway to the nursery, looking around at the finished room.

“You okay?” Sousa asked as he walked up to her. He stopped behind her, his hand resting on the small of her back.

“Fine,” Daisy replied, turning to look at her husband. “It’s just having the nursery ready makes this feel so much more real.” She rubbed her hand on her belly. “I know logically that this was real, that we’re having a baby and it’s felt real ever since I first felt her move. But having the nursery done… I’m just really excited. She’s going to be here in a few months, and I can’t wait to see her.”

“I can’t wait either,” Sousa said. “We haven’t met her yet, but I already love her so much. Just like I love her mother.”

Daisy rolled her eyes at her husband. “God, I married a dork,” she muttered.

“Yeah, but you love this dork.”

“Yeah, I do.”


	22. Our Little Girl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a while. In my defense, I first had to make a load of Christmas presents and then this was almost done like two weeks ago, but then a coup happened and even though I'm not American, it was still pretty jarring to watch live on tv, so I couldn't focus on anything for a while. 
> 
> For people that also read someone revoke their internet access, I have the next chapter like a third to halfway done and hopefully it will be up in the next week or so, but I wouldn't be too optimistic because the sims are releasing a new pack next week and my brain has decided I now finally have the motivation to clean my room.
> 
> So yeah, those are my excuses

_March 14 th, 2023_

Daisy groaned as she woke, instinctively reaching out for her husband to snuggle closer to him. When her hand only found empty bed, she cracked her eyes open to look around the room for Sousa. “Daniel?” Daisy felt the bed dip as Sousa sat down next to her and brushed her hair away from her head.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“What are you doing up already?” Daisy asked.

“I have to leave for work soon,” he replied.

Daisy frowned at him. “This early, really?”

“Daisy, it’s quarter to nine already, you slept in,” Sousa answered.

“What?” Daisy sat up slightly and looked over at her alarm clock. “I slept for almost twelve hours.” She rubbed some of the sleep away from her eyes before wincing slightly, one hand going to rub her belly.

“Braxton Hicks?” Sousa asked. Daisy nodded in response. “Do you want me to stay?”

“No, you go. I’ll be fine,” Daisy replied. “It’s your last day before you go on leave, you shouldn’t have to miss it because of me.”

“Daisy…”

“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “Bobbi’s coming over later, so I won’t be alone if anything happens, which it won’t. I’ll see you when you get back tonight.”

“Promise that you’ll call me if anything happens,” Sousa said.

“I will,” Daisy promised. “Now, go, enjoy your last day.”

Sousa leant in to kiss his wife. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you then.” Daisy lay back down as he walked away, pulling the quilt back over her body.

“I thought you said Bobbi was coming over,” Sousa said.

“She’s not coming over until eleven,” Daisy replied. “Until then, I am going back to sleep.”

He smiled at her as he made his way over to the door. “I’ve gotta go now, love you.”

“Love you too.”

***

Daisy had finally managed to drag herself away from her bed by the time Bobbi arrived. Her friend held out a paper bag, the logo from a local bakery on the side.

“The cookies you said you were craving the other day,” Bobbi said as she passed the bag over Daisy.

“You’re my new favourite person.”

“Anything to keep the pregnant woman happy,” Bobbi replied with a grin before frowning slightly. “Are you okay?”

“Did Daniel text you?” Daisy asked as she and Bobbi made their way towards the living room.

“You winced and your hand went to your belly,” Bobbi replied. “And yes, your husband did text me to say that you were having false labour pains this morning and just to make sure that you were doing okay.”

“I’m fine,” Daisy insisted as they sat down, her hand already going into the bag of cookies. “He’s just worrying.”

“Just under two weeks to go, how are you feeling?” Bobbi asked as she accepted a cookie offered to her by Daisy.

“So excited, but also incredibly nervous at the same time,” Daisy answered. “Simmons said she felt the same when she had Alya, but she was in deep space when that happened. I’m on Earth, it should be easier.”

“Daisy, I don’t think that anyone feels like having a kid is easy. I mean, even adopting Ying was kinda terrifying and she’s a teenager that can pretty much look after herself and can tell us if she needs anything else. You’re going to be great,” Bobbi reassured.

Daisy smiled at her friend and went to respond, but before she could she let out a pained hiss, one hand going to her belly. She looked up and saw that Bobbi was looking at her watch. “What are you doing?”

“Timing your contractions,” Bobbi answered.

“They’re not contractions, just false labour pains,” Daisy insisted.

“And they’re five minutes apart,” Bobbi replied. She pulled out her phone and sent a text.

“Now what are you doing?” Daisy asked.

“Texting my husband to let him know what’s going on,” Bobbi replied as she looked back up. “You should probably do the same.”

Hunter came crashing through the front door moments later. “I’m here. What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing, because nothing is happening right now,” Daisy answered. She felt another pain in her lower stomach and reached over and grabbed Bobbi’s arm, squeezing tightly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Bobbi replied. “But please, call Daniel.”

“It’s too early, she isn’t due for almost two weeks,” Daisy said.

“Daisy listen to me, you’re going to be fine,” Bobbi insisted. “Call Daniel.”

Daisy finally relented and pulled out her phone to call her husband. After a few rings, the call went to his voicemail. “Hey babe, it’s me. Erm, can you call me back when you get this? Love you, bye.” She let out a sigh as she put her phone down.

“What happened?” Hunter asked.

“I just got his voicemail,” Daisy replied. “He said he was going to be doing a stock check on the equipment for Zephyr-4, but some of the storage rooms are so deep into the Lighthouse that you sometimes lose phone signal. I’ll call Mack, get him to go get Daniel.” She let out a groan and grabbed Bobbi’s hand again.

“Yeah, maybe you should do that in the car on the way to the hospital,” Hunter added.

Daisy shook her head. “I need to wait for Daniel to get back.”

“Is this your hospital bag?” Hunter asked as he walked back into the room, holding up a duffel bag with one hand.

“Did you go in my room?”

“Is this your hospital bag?” Hunter repeated.

“Yeah, it is.”

“Great,” Hunter replied. He turned to look at Bobbi. “I brought the car keys, let’s get going.”

“I’m not-”

“Daisy, we’re going,” Bobbi insisted. “You can call Daniel on the way there, but I am not delivering your baby in your living room.”

Daisy went to argue back but stopped when she saw the look Bobbi gave her. “Fine,” she relented. “Let’s go.” She allowed Bobbi to help her to her feet and steady her as they made their way to the front door.

***

“Hey, Daisy, what’s up?” Mack asked as he picked up the phone.

“Where’s Daniel?” she demanded. “He isn’t answering his phone.”

“Doing Z-4’s stock check, he should be at storage room F right now and you know what the phone reception is like down there,” Mack replied. “Is everything okay?”

“Just get down there and tell him to answer his phone,” Daisy said before letting out another groan. Bobbi reached over and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Tremors, what’s going on?” Mack asked.

“I’m in labour,” Daisy replied.

“Shit.”

Daisy let out a slight laugh. “Bobbi and Hunter are already driving me to the hospital. It’s just… I really need my husband right now.”

“I’m already on my way to get him now,” Mack said. “I’m going to have to go before I lose signal. But it’s going to be okay Daisy, and good luck.”

“Thank you,” Daisy replied before hanging up the phone.

“What did he say?” Hunter asked from the front seat.

“He’s going to find Daniel now,” Daisy replied. She groaned again and grasped tightly to Bobbi’s hand. “How much further to the hospital?”

“Another ten minutes,” Hunter answered.

“Daisy, your phone’s ringing,” Bobbi said.

Daisy looked down and saw that Sousa was calling her. She immediately picked up the phone. “Hey.”

“You’re in labour?!” her husband exclaimed.

“That seems to be what’s happening,” Daisy replied with a nervous laugh.

“Shit, I’m on my way home now.”

“I’m already on my way to the hospital, Bobbi and Hunter are driving me there,” she explained.

“Okay, I’ll meet you guys there,” Sousa replied. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Be careful, okay? We don’t need you breaking any traffic laws right now,” Daisy said.

“I won’t,” Sousa promised. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Daisy replied before hanging up again. She reached over and grabbed Bobbi’s hand, squeezing tightly as she felt another contraction hit her. As the pain began to subside, she felt a wet patch form between her legs. “Oh shit.”

“What’s wrong?” Bobbi asked.

“My water just broke,” Daisy answered.

“Shit,” Bobbi echoed. “Hunter, drive faster.”

“What happened to not breaking any traffic laws?” Hunter yelled back.

Bobbi rolled her eyes at her husband. “Just drive, okay?”

***

Daisy was pacing up and down the hospital room. She had been at the hospital for half an hour when Sousa came rushing through the door, his breath heavy from running all the way to her room.

“I got here as quick as I could, are you okay?” he asked as he came to a stop.

Bobbi stood from her seat in the corner of the room. “I’ll go join Hunter in the waiting room, give you two some space.”

“Are you okay?” Sousa repeated once Bobbi had left the room. Daisy grimaced slightly, shooting her husband a glare as she continued pacing the room. “Right, stupid question, sorry.”

“You think?” Daisy snapped before wincing, resting one hand on the windowsill. Sousa was over by her side in an instant, holding her free hand and rubbing her back. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

Sousa shook his head. “You don’t need to apologise,” he replied. “I should be the one apologising, I shouldn’t have gone into work this morning, I should’ve stayed home with you.”

“Daniel, don’t blame yourself for that,” Daisy said. “You wanted to stay, but I was the one that insisted on you going in this morning, I’m sorry.”

“How about we both just stop with all this apologising,” Sousa suggested. “Have your waters broken yet?”

Daisy nodded. “Just after I got off the phone with you,” she replied as she leant her weight against her husband’s side. “God, this hurts.”

“Do you want to sit down?” Daisy nodded and Sousa helped her over to the bed before dragging over the chair from the corner to sit down next to her. “How are you? And I know that’s a stupid question, but how are you, really?”

“I’m terrified,” Daisy confessed. Sousa reached out to take her hand in his own and squeezed it reassuringly as she continued to talk. “She’s two weeks early Daniel, what if something to her because of this? We were meant to have two more weeks to prepare for her. And I know that logically we have everything we need for her at home, but I just feel like there’s something that we haven’t done, something else we need to do.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Sousa said. “She’s going to be fine, all three of us are going to be fine. Yes, she’s here a little early, but have the doctors said anything about her arriving early.”

Daisy shook her head. “She’s only a few days away from being considered full term and they think she should be okay. Just small.”

“If they think she’s going to be okay, then we have to believe she’s going to be okay. Just small,” Sousa replied. “Like her Mom.”

Daisy hit him in the arm, the two holding back laughter. “You’re ridiculous.”

“I know,” Sousa said. He lifted her hand up to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. “I am so proud of you. And I love you.”

Daisy smiled at him. “I love you too,” she replied before gripping his hand tight and groaning in pain as another contraction hit. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

“I do believe that we both agreed on having kids and you were the one that suggested we started trying when we did,” Sousa pointed out.

“I know, I know,” Daisy replied. She sighed and leant back on the bed. Sousa moved to sit beside her, half hanging off the edge of the bed. He put one arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she leant into his side. “If I say anything while I’m in labour, I don’t mean it. I don’t actually hate you, it’s just…”

“You’re going to be in a lot of pain,” Sousa finished. “I know, and I don’t blame you for it.”

Daisy smiled as she reached out for his free hand. “In just a few hours, we’re going to have our little girl.” She grinned as she turned to look up at her husband. “We’re gonna be parents.”

Sousa grinned back at her and leant in to kiss her. “I can’t wait.”

***

Daisy’s hair was plastered with sweat against her forehead as she slumped back against her husband, feelings of exhaustion and relief filling her body as she heard a small cry.

“It’s a girl,” the midwife announced as she lifted the baby up and handed her to the new parents. The baby was bright red and screaming but Daisy thought she was the most amazing thing she’d ever seen. Daisy smiled as she held her baby closer to her chest.

“Hey Pippa,” Daisy said, already feeling the tears pool in her eyes. She turned her head to look at Sousa. “We have a daughter.”

“I love you so much, both of you,” he replied, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. He reached down to run a finger gently along Pippa’s cheek. “Hey baby, you have no idea how happy me and your Mommy are to meet you.”

Daisy grinned when she heard the word “Mommy”, the full force of the realisation of the fact she was now a mother hit her. When a doctor came to take Pippa to check her over, Daisy turned to look at Sousa. “Can you stay with her?” Sousa nodded and stood to follow the doctor. Daisy let out a sigh as she leant back against the pillows on the bed.

“Are doing okay?” one of the nurses asked as she checked Daisy over.

“Yeah,” Daisy replied. “It’s just… I’m a mom now, I have a daughter.”

“She’s your first, isn’t she?” the nurse asked. Daisy nodded and the nurse smiled at her. “Can tell by the look on your face, a lot of first time parents get that look on their face when they realise they’re responsible for a whole other human life.

Daniel made his way back over to Daisy, holding Pippa in his arms and the doctor walking behind him.

“How is she?” Daisy asked.

“Healthy, just small,” the doctor. “Which is what we would expect given her gestational age.”

“We’ll give you three some time together,” the nurse said as she and the other left the room.

Daisy leant against Sousa as he sat down next to her. She looked over at Pippa and smiled. “We have a baby.”

“I know,” Sousa replied.

“We have a baby,” she repeated. “I mean, I knew we were having a baby, but it’s just… we have a baby.” She turned to look up at Sousa. “Do you think we’re going to be good parents?”

“We’re going to be the best we can be,” he answered. “And I also know we’re going to be the parents that are still disgustingly in love.”

Daisy let out a slight laugh. “Our kids are going to hate us.”

“Kids? Plural?” Sousa asked.

“I know you want for than one,” Daisy replied as she looked down at Pippa. “I think she’d like a younger sibling or two. Although not for a few more years.”

“God no,” he agreed.

“What time is it?” Daisy asked.

“Just gone one in the morning,” Sousa replied.

“So her birthday’s the fifteenth?” Daisy asked. Sousa nodded. “March fifteenth, 2023; the best day of my life.”

“Best day of mine too,” Sousa replied. He leant in to kiss his wife before the couple settled down and enjoyed their first few moments together with their new daughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know next to nothing about childbirth. My level of knowledge goes no further than a few google searches, but let's just go with it, okay?


	23. Visiting Hours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the last couple like three hundred words and edited this while feeling like pure shit after having the first covid vaccine, so apologies for any mistakes

_March 15 th, 2023_

Coulson and May were the first to arrive. They were through the door to Daisy’s room mere moments after visiting hours started.

“You took your time,” Daisy teased as they made their way across the room.

“Someone had us waiting in the car park for half an hour before visiting hours started,” May replied.

“And someone was considering coming in early ‘because she can just fight off anyone that tries to tell her that visiting hours haven’t started yet’,” Coulson countered. May merely rolled her eyes in response.

“Well, thank you for not starting a fight,” Sousa said before May and Coulson could continue bickering.

May perched on the edge of Daisy’s bed and looked down at the baby in her arms. “She’s beautiful.” She looked up at the new parents. “She’s so sweet.”

“Do you want to hold her?” Daisy asked. May nodded and Daisy passed the baby over. “Hey, Pippa, this is your Grandma.”

“Nana, this is your Nana,” May corrected. She nodded her head in Coulson’s direction without ever looking away from her granddaughter. “And that’s Gramps.”

“Nana and Gramps?” Daisy asked.

“We may have discussed that at length on the way here,” Coulson answered. “Unless you guys had something else you wanted us to go by.”

“No, I love it,” Daisy replied.

“Coulson, don’t start,” May warned.

“Start what?” Sousa asked.

“He’s about to start crying,” May answered. “I can feel it from here.”

Daisy frowned at May. “You can feel Coulson’s emotions?” May nodded. “Since when?”

“The last couple of weeks,” May replied.

“Bet that’s been fun,” Daisy teased. “Actually, don’t answer that, I don’t want to know.”

“You guys aren’t going to have to keep her name a secret for much longer,” Sousa said. “Everyone else will know in a few hours.”

“You still haven’t told them?” Coulson asked.

“We were waiting until they met her,” Daisy answered. She looked over at Coulson. “Do you want to meet her?”

Coulson took a seat next to the bed and carefully took the baby from May. “I’m not going to cry,” he promised.

“You can cry, we’re not going to judge you,” Daisy replied.

“I might,” May said.

Daisy heard the sound of a camera phone. She looked up and saw her husband taking a photo of the group.

“Sorry, I left the sound on.”

“Looks like someone finally got over his hatred for the camera phone,” Daisy teased.

“Or he didn’t have time to go get his actual camera from home,” he replied.

“Well, try and remember to bring it next time,” she said.

“Next time?” May asked.

“We’ve both talked about it, but not for a while yet,” Daisy answered. “You’ll have to settle for just having the one to spoil for now.”

“Oh, we’re definitely going to spoil her,” May replied. She looked over at the small girl in Coulson’s arms. “She’ll be spoiled rotten.”

***

“I’m going to warn you now that she’s been close to crying most of the way here,” Melanie said as she opened the door.

“Shut up and let me see my niece,” Kora argued as she raced past her girlfriend.

Daisy rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics. “She’s sleeping,” she warned as Kora approached the bed. “Kora, meet Pippa. Pippa Ruth Sousa-Johnson.”

Kora slowed down as she approached the bed and gently took a seat in the chair next to her. “She’s so small,” she said as she looked over at the baby with a look of awe on her face.

“You’ve seen babies before, you’ve met Esperanza,” Daisy replied.

“Yeah, but there were never any kids at Afterlife, this is all still weird for me,” Kora said. “Besides, it’s different with her, she’s my sister’s kid, my niece.” She chewed the inside of her lip for a moment. “When she wakes up, can I get cuddles?”

Melanie stood behind Kora’s shoulder and smiled down at Pippa. “She’s adorable.” She looked up at Daisy and Sousa. “Congrats guys.”

“Thank you,” Sousa replied.

Pippa let out a small sigh from where she was lying in her mother’s arms. The girl blinked her eyes open, leaning in against Daisy’s chest. “Sorry Kora, you’re going to have to wait a little longer for cuddles, I think someone’s hungry.”

“I’m happy to wait, so long as I get cuddles,” Kora replied.

“I feel like I should apologise for running out halfway through stock check yesterday,” Sousa said as Daisy started to feed Pippa. He looked over at his wife and daughter. “But I am not sorry.”

Melanie laughed. “That’s fine, completely understandable,” she said. “We dragged in a couple of other agents and got it done in a couple of hours. Zephyr-4 is all ready to go come June.”

“No S.H.I.E.L.D. talk today,” Daisy interrupted. “But I am going to miss you both while you’re gone.”

“We’ll miss you too,” Kora replied. “But we’ll bring Pippa back something cool.”

***

“Alya, be careful,” Simmons called out from down the hall.

Sousa and Daisy and looked over at the door as they heard the sound of a small pair of feet come running down the corridor towards their room, a second pair of feet racing after her. Fitz caught her just as they reached the door. He grabbed her by the shoulder before she could run into the room.

“Alya, what did we say?” Fitz asked.

“To not run off and be careful around Uncle Daniel and Auntie Daisy,” the little girl replied.

“And what did you just do?” Fitz asked.

“I ran off,” Alya admitted. “But I was excited.”

“But that doesn’t mean that you can run off,” Simmons said as she reached the rest of her family, one hand resting on her belly. She looked past them and smiled at Daisy and Sousa. “Sorry we didn’t get here sooner, we got held up picking Alya up from school.”

The three made their way across the room, Fitz still holding Alya back. Sousa was quick to stand up and offer his seat to Simmons. Alya stopped stood next to Daisy, excitedly peering at the baby in her Auntie’s arms.

“Alya, don’t you have something that you want to go give your cousin?” Simmons asked.

Alya took her backpack off her shoulder and dug around until she pulled out a present. She proudly held it out towards Daisy. “This is for… what’s her name? You still haven’t told us.”

“Pippa,” Daisy answered. “Pippa Ruth Sousa-Johnson.”

“Then this is for Pippa,” Alya said.

Sousa reached over at took the present from Alya and unwrapped it. He smiled when he saw what was inside. “It’s a monkey,” he said as he showed the toy monkey to his wife.

“We got her a purple one, I’ve seen the nursery and thought it would match,” Simmons explained.

“It’s lovely,” Daisy replied. She looked over at Alya. “Thank you. Do you want to hold her?”

Alya looked over at her parents, waiting for a small nod of permission from her parents before looking back over at Daisy and Sousa. “Yes please.”

Sousa pulled over a spare chair for the girl. Sousa took Pippa from Daisy and carefully passed her over to Alya, Fitz helping her hold the baby properly. Daisy and Simmons both exchanged matching grins before going back to look at their husbands and daughters.

“She’s really cute,” Alya said. “And really tiny.”

“You used to be that small,” Simmons explained with a slight laugh.

Alya looked up at her mother with a shocked look on her face. “I wasn’t that small!”

“Maybe not as small as her, she is pretty small, but you were definitely smaller than Esperanza,” Fitz added. “Would you be okay if we took a photo?” Alya nodded and Fitz was quick to pull out his phone and take a few photos, Sousa doing the same.

“Has he been like this all day?” Simmons asked.

“He’s going to run out of storage space on his phone at this rate,” Daisy joked.

“Did the others cry?”

Daisy laughed. “So much, especially Coulson. Also, May could tell he was going to cry before he did.”

“She can feel his emotions now?” Simmons asked. Daisy nodded. “Do you have any idea what’s going on with those two at the moment?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

***

Mack knocked on the door to the hospital room.

Daisy grinned when she saw Mack and Yo-Yo at the door, their kids in tow. “Hey guys, come in.”

Yo-Yo was the first to reach Daisy, sixteen-month-old Esperanza balanced on her hip. “So good to see that you’re all doing okay. Gave me a fright when Mack called me yesterday and told me what was happening.”

“I think I scared him too,” Daisy joked as she accepted a one-armed hug from her friend. “But we’re all doing fine now.”

“You did scare me, tremors,” Mack added as he made his over to them. “But it’s good to see you all.”

“You’re killing us you two, what’s her name?” Yo-Yo asked.

“Pippa Ruth Sousa Johnson,” Sousa answered.

“I’m guessing that Pippa is after Coulson,” Mack said.

Daisy nodded. “And Ruth is after Daniel’s sister.”

“That’s a lovely name,” Yo-Yo said.

“Do you guys want to hold her?” Daisy asked.

Yo-Yo was quick to hand off Esperanza to Flint, who quickly handed her off to Mack. Yo-Yo smiled down at the small girl as she took her from Daisy. “She’s so sweet. And small.” She looked over at where Mack was holding Esperanza. “I remember when she was like this. They grow up so fast.”

“She’ll be graduating before you know it,” Mack added, looking over at Flint.

“You guys adopted me four years ago,” Flint replied. “You didn’t know me when I was Pippa and Esperanza’s ages.”

“They grow up so fast,” Mack teased.

***

Bobbi and Hunter were the last two to arrive at the hospital. They walked in carrying a large bag.

“Hospital food sucks so we brought you something to eat,” Hunter explained.

“Where is she?” Bobbi asked.

“Sleeping,” Daisy answered, nodding her head in the direction of where her daughter was sleeping in her bassinet. “Thanks for coming. And thanks for bringing food.”

Bobbi just smiled back at her friend as she handed her the bag of food.

“So, what’s her name?” Hunter asked. “We were the ones that got you here and we’re also the last ones to know.”

Bobbi elbowed her husband in the side. “Sorry about him. But what is her name, we’ve been referring to her as Baby Girl Sousa-Johnson.”

“Pippa Ruth,” Sousa answered.

“That’s a great name,” Bobbi replied.

“Definitely better than just calling her Baby Girl,” Hunter added. “Do you have any idea when they’re letting you go home?”

“Tomorrow afternoon hopefully,” Daisy said.

“Ying told us to tell you that she has already offered up her services as a babysitter,” Bobbi said. “I told her that you guys won’t be wanting to leave her with someone else for a while, but she wanted to make sure you guys knew for when her services were needed.”

“Well, tell her that we’ll keep her in mind for when we need a babysitter,” Daisy replied.

Hunter had his way over to Pippa’s bassinet and smiled down at the small girl. “She’s adorable.” He looked over at Daisy. “I’m really happy for you. Seriously, after everything I’ve seen you go through, you deserve this.”

“Thanks,” Daisy replied as she looked over Sousa, smiling at him before looking back at their daughter. “I’m really happy too.”


	24. New Parents

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gone one in the morning where I am, so please forgive any mistakes, I should've gone to bed an hour ago but I couldn't stop until I finished this.

_March 16 th, 2023_

“This feels illegal.”

Sousa looked over at his wife as they drove home from the hospital, Pippa sound asleep in her car seat in the back of the car.

“What does?”

“Taking her home,” Daisy replied. “They just let us leave with her. We just left the hospital with a whole other person.”

“To be fair we did technically arrive here with her, just this time she’s not inside of you,” Sousa pointed out. “We’re going to be fine.”

“I know, it just feels weird.”

***

Sousa carried the hospital bag back up to their apartment, Daisy bringing Pippa in her car seat.

“I’ll sort out the bag, you go sit down,” Sousa said to Daisy as they walked out of the lift.

Normally, Daisy would’ve protested her husband doing everything for her, but on this occasion, she was more than happy to follow his advice. She took Pippa into the living room, gently placing her car seat on the floor by the sofa before she herself flopped down onto a seat. She took the baby, who had woken up at some point while being brought in from the car, from the car seat and rested her against her chest. She let out a sigh and leant back slightly, one hand rubbing her daughter’s back. She dipped her head down to press a gentle kiss to the top of her head, smiling as she smelt the new baby smell.

From down the hallway, she heard the sound of the main bedroom door closing before the nursery door opening.

“In here,” she softly called out. She turned her head slightly to look over at Sousa as he walked into the room.

“I didn’t think you’d be out here, I thought you’d have taken her to her nursery by now,” he said as he leant against the back of the sofa, smiling down at his wife and daughter.

“I was waiting for you,” she explained. “I know she won’t really know what’s happening, but I thought you’d want to be there when we took her in there for the first time.” She started to stand from the sofa but gave up after a few moments. “Although, I think I might need some help.”

***

The other side of the bed was empty when Sousa woke up. He sleepily blinked his eyes open and looked around for any sign of his wife. As he sat up, he saw that Pippa wasn’t in her bassinet. He grabbed his prosthetic from where it was leaning against the nightstand and put it on before heading out of the bedroom in search of Pippa and Daisy. As he headed out into the hallway, he saw light coming from under the door of the nursery.

Daisy looked over at him as he opened the door. She was sat in the rocking chair in the corner, gently rocking back and forth as Pippa nursed. “Hey you.”

“What are you doing in here?”

“She was hungry, and I didn’t want to wake you up,” Daisy replied. She brought one hand up to her mouth as she struggled to stifle a yawn.

“I’ll settle her down again when you’re done feeding her, you go get some more sleep,” he said. “And don’t feel like you have to come in here when you’re up with her in the night, we’re in this together, I don’t mind if you wake me up. If anything, I want you to.”

Daisy nodded. “Okay,” she promised. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Pippa was done feeding. Daisy stood from the rocking chair and handed the baby over to Sousa, wincing slightly as she did.”

“Are you okay?” Sousa asked as he rested Pippa against his chest.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Daniel, it has been forty-eight hours since I was pushing her out of my body, I think I’m allowed to be a little sore still.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Pippa’s head before leaning up and softly kissing Sousa. “I’ll see you back in bed.”

“See you there,” Sousa replied as she left the nursery. It took him only a few minutes before he felt the baby fall asleep against him. He turned the nursery light off and made his way back to the bedroom. As he walked back in, he heard the sound of light snores coming from his wife’s side of the bed, Daisy’s face pressed into her pillow. He gently placed Pippa back in her bassinet before removing his prosthetic and clawing back into bed beside his wife.

***

_March 18 th, 2023_

“Morning!”

The sudden sound of someone entering their apartment and shouting woke Daisy and Sousa from their sleep. Daisy had her hand held out towards their bedroom door, ready to quake whoever was in their apartment before her brain fully woke up and she realised that it was her sister’s voice. She looked over at Sousa and saw him holding an ICER before he too realised it was Kora.

Sousa let out a groan. “Why is your sister here?”

“I have no idea, she didn’t say anything about coming over,” Daisy replied. She let out a groan as she stood from the bed. “I’ll go see what she wants.” She stretched as she opened the bedroom door and followed the sound of Kora and Melanie talking to the kitchen.

“Oh, hey Daisy, nice to see you,” Melanie greeted.

“What are you two doing here?” Daisy demanded.

Before either woman could respond, Pippa started crying. Daisy heard the sound of the bed shift as Sousa stood.

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to wake her,” Melanie apologised.

Daisy checked the time on the clock on the wall. “She was going to wake up soon for her next feed soon anyway. But again, why are you here?”

“We brought you food,” Kora explained as Sousa walked into the room. Daisy pulled out a stool from the kitchen counter and took Pippa from her husband’s arms, undoing the top couple of buttons on her pyjama top so that the baby could nurse.

“I was just thinking about how overrun my sister was after she had her kids,” Melanie continued. “Although, things were a little more chaotic for her than they are here. Not that I’m saying you guys are having super easy compared to her, but you guys only have the one, she had triplets. And her husband walked out on her while she was in labour… which obviously I don’t Sousa would ever do, mainly because he’s a good guy, and I’m guessing that you don’t have any cousins still alive-”

“Mel, I think they get it,” Kora interrupted. “We just wanted to give you guys a hand. Look, you guys go sit down, when you can move Pippa of course, and I can make you guys something eat.”

“Fine,” Daisy relented. “But this a one-time thing.”

Sousa continued to chat with the two women as they unpacked the bag of food they’d brought with them. Daisy let out a sigh and leant back slightly on her stool. Sousa reached over and rubbed the base of her back, Daisy contentedly leaning into his touch. Once Pippa was done feeding, Daisy stood from her seat and she and Sousa made their way to the living room.

“I’m sorry about her,” Daisy said as they sat down, carefully placing Pippa down in the bassinet they had set up in the living room. “It’s just with them going back to space again in a couple of months I think Kora just wants to spend as much time with us before she goes, especially now we’ve got Pippa.”

“Honey, it’s fine. I don’t mind Kora being here,” he reassured. “Sure, it would’ve been nice for her to tell us ahead of time that she was coming over and that’s something we should talk to her about, but I don’t mind her being here. But I think this is more than just about them going back to space.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You told me that one of the first things Kora ever told you was how she’d always wanted a sister; I think she’s just been trying to make up for lost time, you both have,” he explained. “And now we have Pippa… she grew up without her extended family and doesn’t want the same to happen to her niece.”

Daisy frowned. “What makes you say that?”

“You remember over Christmas at Fitzsimmons, that night you went to bed early because you were tired, the same night that Kora drank a little too much wine at dinner and was being _very_ talkative?” he asked. Daisy nodded. “She talked about that, a lot. Kept going on about how excited she was to be an auntie.”

“Why didn’t you say anything before?”

“Because when she woke up the next morning she was really embarrassed and begged me not to say anything,” he replied. “Don’t tell her I said anything.”

“I won’t,” Daisy promised just as her sister walked into the room.

“Here you guys go,” Kora said as she handed them each a plate of food. She frowned as she looked between the couple. “Did I miss something?”

Daisy shook her head. “It’s nothing,” she replied. “And Kora? I’m really glad you’re here. A call to let us know that you’re coming would be nice in the future, but it’s to nice to have you around.”

Kora smiled at her. “I’m glad to be here.” She took a couple of steps back out of the room and towards the kitchen. “I, uh, I’m going back to the kitchen to help Mel. I’ll talk to you more in a bit.”

Sousa watched his wife as Kora left the room, noting an odd look on her face. “Honey, are you okay?”

Daisy turned to look at him and shot him a reassuring smile, one that didn’t quite meet reach her eyes. “I’m fine.”

***

A slight shift in the mattress roused Sousa from his sleep. He looked at the time of his alarm clock and saw that it had been barely an hour since they’d last settled Pippa down. He turned over and saw his wife half sat up, leaning on her elbow as she vigilantly watched their daughter’s sleeping form.

“Honey? Is everything alright?” he asked. “Is Pippa awake already?”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Daisy replied.

Sousa sat up slightly behind her, a worried feeling settling in his gut. “What’s wrong?”

“I need to watch her, I can’t let anything happen to her,” she muttered.

“Dais, you’re scaring me right now, please just talk to me,” he begged.

Daisy finally turned to look at him, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes. “She’s just a baby, she can’t do anything to protect herself, she can’t do anything if someone tries to take her.”

Their conversation about Daisy and Kora making up for lost time came back to him as he realised what was going on. “Oh Daisy. Come here.” He reached out and pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms tightly around her as she pressed her face into his chest. He kissed the top of her head and soothingly rubbed her back. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Daisy nodded as she pulled back slightly, the tears beginning to fall. “I was just a kid and… I never saw my parents again, not until I was in my twenties. And then I watched my Mom die, twice, and my Dad doesn’t even remember I exist. I was a baby, like her. And I just don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her. I don’t want anyone to take my baby.”

“Hey, hey, hey, honey, look at me, just look at me, okay?” he said. He reached out and cupped her cheek as he turned her head, so she was looking at him. “Nothing is going to happen to her, okay? I won’t let anything like ever happen to her. I love her, I love both of you more than anything else in this world and I would give my life to make sure nothing like that ever happens to her. She is going to grow up happy and safe and surrounded by family and _loved_. She’s going to be okay.”

Daisy nodded and leant back into his arms. “I’m sorry for freaking out.”

“You don’t need to apologise,” he replied. “Has this been something that’s been bothering you for a while?”

“I think since I found out I was pregnant,” Daisy confessed. “But it had only ever been at the back of my mind. It was only after talking about Kora this morning that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And I know that she’s going to be okay, she’s pretty much got the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D. looking out for her. Hell, her godfather is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

“I know,” Daisy insisted. “It’s just…” She trailed off without saying anything else, slumping against his chest.

“Is this something you’d maybe want to talk to someone about, maybe a therapist?” Sousa cautiously asked.

“Can we just go to sleep before she wakes us up again?” Daisy replied.

“Daisy-”

“Look, we’ll talk in the morning,” she promised. “But right now, I just want to go to sleep.”

Sousa nodded. He pulled her close to him as they lay back down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before drifting off to sleep.

***

_March 19 th, 2023_

“I spoke to Mack,” Daisy said as Sousa walked into the living room.

“About what?” he asked.

“Getting a S.H.I.E.L.D. approved therapist,” she explained. “You were right, last night that is. I told myself that I wouldn’t let my childhood affect how I raised Pippa. But it is, and I can’t move on from that by myself like I’ve been trying to for years. I need professional help to deal with this.”

“I’m really proud of you,” he replied.

Pippa chose that moment to wake, her small cries filling the room.

“I’ve got her,” Sousa said, heading over to lift up Pippa from her bassinet.

Daisy settled back against the sofa cushions as she looked over at her husband and daughter, smiling to herself as she began to feel like everything was going to be alright.


End file.
